[KHTS] – Zonta Club of the Santa Clarita Valley will be presenting more than $8,000 in community grants and scholarships at its May business meeting Wednesday at Valencia Hilton Garden Inn.

Recipients have already been notified and are expected to attend the dinner meeting to accept their awards and talk a bit about how they will be used.

Two $1,000 scholarships will be presented to winners of the Young Women in Public Affairs and the Jane M. Klausman Women in Business scholarship programs. The winners of both awards have been forwarded to District 9, where they will represent the Santa Clarita Valley in competition for an additional $1,000 in each category.

The District winners go on to Zonta International competition, where 12 Klausman winners will receive $7,000 each and 10 YWIPA winners will receive $4,000 each. Because competition was so keen in the YWIPA category this year, the committee also chose to give a smaller cash award to the top runner-up, to be presented at the May business meeting.

In addition, Zonta will present a total of $5790 to two recipients of its Community Grants program at the May 14 meeting.

The two winners were selected from a field of nine eligible applicants on the basis of their dedication to Zonta’s mission of improving the lives of women and girls.

The business meeting starts with a social gathering at 6 p.m., with time to order the optional dinner from a special Zonta menu.

The program begins promptly at 6:30 p.m. Prospective members who are interested in learning more about Zonta can get contact information from the club’s website, www.scvzonta.org.

Linda Pedersen, the 2003 Santa Clarita Valley Woman of the Year and longtime Santa Clarita community volunteer, was recently named the winner of the Carmen Sarro Community Service Award presented by the Zonta Club of the Santa Clarita Valley.

Lois Bauccio, president and executive director of the Child & Family Center Foundation, accepted the award on Pederson’s behalf. Pederson was nominated for the award by the Child & Family Center.