Zonta Stanthorpe Yellow Dinner 2023

Zonta Stanthorpe hosted over 60 guests for its annual Yellow Dinner to celebrate International Women’s Day on Saturday night, 4 March. It is an opportunity to reflect on the achievements of women around the world, and reinvigorate our efforts to create a gender equal world.  The colour Yellow is chosen being the universal colour of friendship and fellowship and also the colour of Zonta International’s symbol – the Zonta Yellow Rose The scene inside the Queensland College of Wine Tourism was very striking with guests dressing in many shades of yellow.

All eyes were focussed on Guest Speaker Amanda Dalton as she told her story of Protea Place, an outreach support centre for homeless and vulnerable women in Toowoomba.The message of what could be done had inspired everyone there. 

Amanda highlighted the work that Protea Place does and how she saw the gap and found a way to fill it, but she also spoke about the support that Protea Place receives from male-dominated industries. It’s a reminder that there are so many good men in the world. The other thing that was brought home was the many homeless women are in the over-55 age group. Protea Place is now working on opening a second centre in Warwick. 

MC’s for the evening were Zonta Stanthorpe members Sandy Venn-Brown and Liza Thompson who kept the crowd entertained while announcing winners of the many multi-draw raffle prizes, kindly donated by fellow Zonta Stanthorpe members.The auction of a yellow rosebush was a highlight. It was indicative of the feeling of the room that although their guest speaker started the bidding on the rose, the ladies from Table 6 seemed determined to win, and were successful.Ladies from Table 6 They then presented the rosebush to Amanda for planting at Protea Place. Proceeds from the evening were distributed to ZI Rose fund and Protea Place in Warwick.

As current President of Zonta Stanthorpe I would like to extend my  sincere gratitude to all my valued members for their efforts in orgainzing and thank you to the Stanthorpe community for their support of our event. Photos courtesy of Warwick/Stanthorpe Today