President's Message
Dear Friend,
Thank you for your interest in Quota International of Indiana, PA., Incorporated.
Quota International Inc. is an 89-year-old international service organization that links members of all ages, occupations and nationalities in a worldwide network of service and friendship. With a motto of "we share," Quotarians are known especially for their service to deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech impaired individuals and disadvantaged women and children. (Our international website is www.quota.org). Quota of Indiana is 52 years old.
Quota International of Indiana, PA., Inc., with 50 active members, meets monthly at the Elks for a dinner meeting (generally on fourth Wednesday of the month). Committees also meet throughout the year. We have a wide range of members of all ages – from 24 to 85 – in a variety of occupations and professions, and membership is open to anyone who sincerely enjoys serving the community and building friendships.
Quota of Indiana is known for its annual “St. Patty’s Day Open,” an indoor miniature golf event, which has raised almost $28,000 during the past three years for community programs and projects, including Downtown Indiana’s Revitalization project. Our “Spa Day” programs, held in 2002, 2003 and 2004, raised more than $5,000 for the club’s community service projects each year. In 2005, the Christmas Tree Capitol Classic, an alcohol-free motorcycle “run” event co-sponsored by Tom’s Cycle and Pennsylvania Barbecue, raised $2,000 for service projects. In 2006, we hosted our first “Murder-Mystery” event, and raised more than $2,500 for our community service projects.
Since 2003, Quota of Indiana and The Coney Island have partnered annually to raise funds for the Alice Paul House, a shelter for battered women and their children, with a special reception and mix and mingle event – the 2008 event surpassed all previous year’s fundraising totals, collecting more than $5,000 for The Alice Paul House.
To celebrate our local club’s charter members, the late Mrs. Fran Supinka and the late Mrs. Rose Reschini, and our 50th anniversary in August 2005, Quota of Indiana established a new scholarship program, the “Gold Scholarship,” for a disadvantaged woman wishing to continue her education. The first fundraising event for the program, the “It’s in the Bag” project, raised almost $1,400 for the scholarship, which will be offered for the first time in 2008. Quota of Indiana was honored to have the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce donate funds to the scholarship in honor of the late Mrs. Supinka and Mrs. Reschini.
Other projects have included:
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Purchase of a four classroom amplification system for children who are hard of hearing, this year to be placed in the Purchase Line School District;
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Providing financial support for Indiana County’s Deaf Awareness Day;
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Offering a sign language interpreter for community events like the Leader’s Circle program;
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Providing funding for an sign language interpreter for services at Grace United Methodist Church;
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Purchasing and distributing 350 better speech and hearing books for senior citizen centers and physician offices;
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Continuing our well-developed mentoring program, which serves young men and women from Big Hearts, Little Hands (formerly Big Brothers, Big Sisters), the Indiana Guidance Center, and Community Living and Learning. Since 2001, Quotarians have hosted almost 15 mentoring projects with youth in the community over the past seven years, including tours of area businesses to introduce job and career opportunities; a career exploration evening with presentations from business leaders in the community; several dinners and social events; a business etiquette dinner and attendance at an IUP theater presentation; four business exploration events hosted by businesses in the Indiana community; and outings at the Talus Rock Girl Scout camp;
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Providing donations of needed items to the Alice Paul House, including a $500 donation for renovations at the shelter and specialized children’s books about issues related to problems children of domestic abuse face. Members bring items monthly for the Alice Paul House, a shelter for battered women and their children, and participated in the sale of the CD produced by area musicians to benefit the Alice Paul House. In 2005, Quota donated $800 to help outfit the playground with a special shock absorbing surface, on top of more than $28,000 raised during the six annual events held Upstairs@theConey;
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Collecting charity donations at each meeting – members bring specialized items for community charities, ranging from Indiana County Community Action Program to Salvation Army to the Guidance Center to the YMCA;
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Donating more than 350 children’s books collected at our 2002 International Convention, which we co-hosted, to the Indiana Regional Medical Center pediatric floor, Salvation Army Ark of Learning program and Indiana Headstart;
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Presenting our three-part “Success Series” seminars for members of the community, done in conjunction with the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce, in 1999-2000;
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Producing the Twentieth Century Edition: Indiana County Women of Distinction hardcover book to spotlight women who have made significant contributions to Indiana County.
We also participate in many established community charities and programs, including Treasures for Children (Christmas gifts for needy families), the Salvation Army kettle drive and spend an evening as “gatekeepers” for the Blue Spruce Festival of Lights.
One of our most recently comprehensive projects was a district-wide program (Quota has seven clubs in western Pennsylvania that make up our district III) to meet a need for the hundreds of children who must be removed for their homes because of neglect, abuse or domestic violence by Children and Youth Services workers. (I am proud to say that the genesis of this project came from Indiana Quota.)
We learned from our International Quota leadership that caseworkers who must remove these children offer them only a garbage bag and a few minutes to gather personal items before the children are taken from their homes. In many cases, these children literally have nothing new or special to call their own. Quota clubs in western Pennsylvania got on board for the “backpack project,” with a goal of offering these children a free, new, brand name backpack to use to carry clothing and other personal items. Each club in the district provided special items for children inside the backpack to help provide comfort and meet basic needs.
Quota of Indiana provided a new stuffed animal for these children, to be placed inside the backpacks as a comfort item, with the idea that children of all ages enjoy a stuffed “friend.” Other clubs collected pencils, pens, notebooks, personal hygiene items and books of all types for all ages. These backpacks were distributed to children through the Children and Youth Services offices in Mercer, Lawrence, Cambria, Indiana and Blair counties – a total of 500 backpacks in all. Quota of Indiana is very proud to have been successful in our solicitation of Ty Inc. to provide 500 new stuffed animals and beanie babies.
Quota of Indiana, to me, is a very special group of women – we sincerely enjoy each others’ company, support one another, and have a great deal of fun!
If would like to discuss anything regarding Quota of Indiana, please do not hesitate to give me a call at 724-349-6935.
Sincerely,
Meghan M. Foulk, President
Quota International of Indiana, PA, Inc.