The Zonta Club of Halifax, founded in 1951, is part of Zonta International, a worldwide organization of executives in business and the professions working together to advance the status of women. There are approximately 34,000 members in more than 1,200 clubs in 71 countries. The organization was founded in 1919 in Buffalo, New York. Zonta takes its name from a Sioux Indian word meaning "honest and trustworthy". The individual Zonta Club is the basic organizational unit of Zonta International. Clubs exist to promote the objectives of Zonta International, and to initiate, adopt, and implement policies and procedures to attain these ends in their own communities, and throughout the world. Members volunteer their time, talents, skills, and energy to local and international service projects designed to advance the status of women. Halifax Club projects have included preschool classes for hard-of-hearing children, shut-in library service, Meals-on-Wheels, second-stage housing for women and children fleeing violence; a self-managed resource centre for women in a public housing complex; and a scholarship encouraging young women to enter careers of influence. Notable past presidents of the Zonta Club of Halifax include Helen Creighton, Abbie Lane, and Phyllis Blakely.