2006 Zonta International Convention will be held in Melbourne, Australia June 24th to June 29th. For more great information check out the Call to Convention on Zonta International's Web Site.

• Membership - Co-Chairs: Romelle Vanek and Carole Snyder
• Service/Status of Women - Co-Chairs: Judy Cognetta, Evelyn McDonald and Janet Shannon
• Jane Klausman - Chair: Marj Neihart, Chair (Shirley will be taking care of the Jane Klausman award)
• Young Women in Public Affairs - Chair: Lollie Coleman
• United Nations & Programs - Chair: Marj Neihart
• Global Event - Chair: Lois Nyman
• Reservations & Hospitality - Chair: Dorothy Swans; Virginia Krahmer
• Poinsettia Sales - Chair: Shirley Nice
• Zonta Paul - Chair: Peggy St. Germain
• Public Relations/Communications - Open
• Sunshine & Birthday - Chair: Lauraine Torgerson; Lucille Peterson

Poinsettia Trivia - Poinsettias were attached to Christmas starting in 1828.

In warm climates, the poinsettia grows outdoors as a winter-flowering leggy shrub about 10 feet high; as a potted plant in northern areas it rarely grows beyond 3 feet. What appear to be petals are actually colored leaflike bracts that surround a central cluster of tiny yellow flowers. A milky latex in the stems and leaves can be irritating to persons or animals sensitive to it, but the claim that poinsettias are deadly poisonous is greatly exaggerated.

Many thanks to Shirley for coordinating the Poinsettia sale and doing an excellent job! We sold poinsettias for a total of $3,969.00. Our net profit from the event was $1,026.00.

Blanket Project Update
The contact we had to deliver the blankets we made to send down to Katrina victims had her back go out and was unable to go. She gave them to SantaCop, a program in New Brighton which helps families at the Christmas season.

Here is an excerpt from her note to us:
"Most of the families have nothing to give the children over the holidays and many of the mothers ask for the basic necessities, like clothing, towels and bedding they desperately need. Thank you for your work of compassion. It has warmed many a heart in 2005 and beyond."

Holiday Bags
To help make the holidays a little brighter for others on behalf of Zonta St. Paul, we purchased, bagged and delivered 20 Bags of Goodies to Susan Anderson at Visiting Nurse Association/Club 100 for donation to women/families in the community for the holiday season.

These bags contained cookie mix, hot chocolate mix, bagged candy, gloves, body crème, calendars, crackers, coffee, juice, shampoo, assorted candy treats, and other miscellaneous items.

Thanks to Peggy, Romelle and Judy for coordinating this annual project.

And, members, thank you for your generous support of this project.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under date of 14 February. One is described as a priest at Rome, another as bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), and these two seem both to have suffered in the second half of the third century and to have been buried on the Flaminian Way, but at different distances from the city. In William of Malmesbury's time what was known to the ancients as the Flaminian Gate of Rome and is now the Porta del Popolo, was called the Gate of St. Valentine. The name seems to have been taken from a small church dedicated to the saint which was in the immediate neighborhood. Of both these St. Valentines some sort of Acta are preserved but they are of relatively late date and of no historical value. Of the third Saint Valentine, who suffered in Africa with a number of companions, nothing further is known.

Saint Valentine's Day

The popular customs associated with Saint Valentine's Day undoubtedly had their origin in a conventional belief generally received in England and France during the Middle Ages, that on 14 February, i.e. half way through the second month of the year, the birds began to pair.

For this reason, the day was looked upon as specially consecrated to lovers and as a proper occasion for writing love letters and sending lovers' tokens. Both the French and English literatures of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries contain allusions to the practice. Perhaps the earliest to be found is in the 34th and 35th Ballades of the bilingual poet, John Gower, written in French; but Lydgate and Clauvowe supply other examples. Those who chose each other under these circumstances seem to have been called by each other their Valentines. In the Paston Letters, Dame Elizabeth Brews writes thus about a match she hopes to make for her daughter (we modernize the spelling), addressing the favoured suitor:
And, cousin mine, upon Monday is Saint Valentine's Day and every bird chooses himself a mate, and if it like you to come on Thursday night, and make provision that you may abide till then, I trust to God that ye shall speak to my husband and I shall pray that we may bring the matter to a conclusion.

Shortly after the young lady herself wrote a letter to the same man addressing it "Unto my rightwell beloved Valentine, John Paston Esquire". The custom of choosing and sending valentines has of late years fallen into comparative desuetude.

And Finally!

The history of Valentine's Day - and its patron saint, St. Valentine are still a mystery to many. Every year on February the 14th, many of us buy candy, cards & flowers and dote upon our lover as if this day was made just for that. Truth be told, there would be a lot more LOVE in this world if we acted this foolishly throughout the rest of the year. All joking aside and without judgment, for these purposes, we will focus on the origins of this special day.

Saint Valentine was a priest of the Catholic Church during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided to forbid young men from marrying, (he believed that married men were more distracted by marrying and leaving a family behind for battle), St. Valentine continued to perform secret marriages. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

According to one legend Saint Valentine was not murdered but instead sent to prison by Claudius for his actions. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl - who may have been his jailor's blind daughter - who visited him during his confinement. Claudius directed Valentine to cure his daughter of blindness and in doing so the two fell in love. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed 'From your Valentine', an expression that is still in use today.

Although the truth behind the Valentine legend is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It's no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France.