The Zonta Club of the Coos Bay Area selected Tara Johnson, Director of the Nancy Devereux Center as the 2022 Zonta Rose Day Honoree. The honor included a $3,000 check for the Devereux Center from the Coos Bay Area Zonta Service Foundation. The Center located in Empire is a day center offering basic need services for the unhoused and mentally ill. Services include meals, laundry and showers, hygiene products, identification, and much more. Under Tara Johnson’s leadership, the Devereux Center has now expanded services to include case management housing services. A resident of Myrtle Point since 2013, Tara resides with her husband on the farm and boyhood home of her husband’s family.  Tara serves on the board of the Coos County Library Service District, the Myrtle Point School Board, and the Myrtle Point Fire Department. Tara epitomizes the Zonta Rose Day theme of being an inspirational individual and champion of gender equality. Tara states, “the $3,000 will likely go toward some long-delayed maintenance projects (at the Devereux Center). It is hard to spend funds on maintenance when we see so many needs daily. However, a building that is safe and secure is vital to our program’s success.”

The mission of Zonta International is to improve the legal, economic, health, educational, and professional status of women worldwide through service and advocacy. Zonta clubs are in 63 countries throughout the world, including Ukraine. New members and donations to our service foundation and scholarship fund are always welcome.