Zonta to honor 7 at Rose Day celebration
Traci McDonald-Kemp
Amy Criss
Dr. Roberta DiLorenzo
Tara Gleason
Mary Lou Murt
Chris Piper
Sandra Strosko
The Washington County Chapter of Zonta will honor seven women during its Rose Day celebration at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Double Tree Hotel, Meadow Lands.
Honorees are:
• Amy Criss, director of women’s business enterprise sales at 84 Lumber;
• Dr. Roberta DiLorenzo, superintendent of the Washington School District;
• Tara Gleason, director of member relations and communications at Washington County Chamber of Commerce;
• Traci McDonald -Kemp, assistant district attorney in Washington County;
• Mary Lou Murt, senior vice president of nursing at Monongahela Valley Hospital;
• Chris Piper, director of Genesis/Washington Center;
• Sandra Strosko, science teacher at Canon-McMillan High School.
What makes this Rose Day special is Zonta is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
Zonta has honored more than 70 women at previous Rose Days, and 325 female high school students from throughout the county have been honored for their service at the Amelia Erhart Dinner throughout the years.
Zonta also has partnered with numerous agencies who help women, and in 2012, received its nonprofit status and formed its own foundation that is funding a program for jogging suits for rape victims. The organization has partnered with Washington, Monongahela Valley and Canonsburg hospitals to deliver the suits.
In addition, Zonta continues to send birthing kits to Africa to help bring down the death rate in mother and child during birth, and is partnering with Dr. Mary Jo Podgurski to promote her book, “Inside Out,” to help report sexual abuse in children.
Among the other agencies Zonta has helped are the Washington Women’s Shelter, Washington Christian Outreach, Dress for Success, Washington Teen Outreach, the Greater Washington County Food Bank, City Mission, Habitat for Humanity, Kade Nursing Home, LeMoyne Center and California University of Pennsylvania and Washington Hospital schools of nursing.