DATE: Sunday, March 9, 1997                 TAG: 9703090150

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   88 lines

A BUSY GROUP COMBINES ELBOW GREASE WITH DEDICATION TEAM SPRUCES UP SHELTERS FOR DISPLACED FAMILIES OPERATED BY SAMARITAN HOUSE.

JoAnn York and Frances DiMartino don't usually work together.

York is a behind-the-desk person, a human resources generalist with the city of Norfolk. DiMartino is out and about, checking paint samples and matching fabrics as a designer with her own Beach company, Birdcage Interiors.

But Saturday morning they were working about as closely as any two people can. Down on their hands and knees, armed with cleansers, rags, steel wool and razor blades, they were attacking years of waxy buildup in the corners of one very shallow closet.

In a small bedroom down the hall, Yvenne King, a young woman more apt to be found in a courtroom or her law office, was painstakingly removing the splatters left in the wake of a recent paint job. Throughout the house on a quiet side street in Princess Anne Plaza, rubber-gloved professional women in their 30s and 40s were scraping, cleaning and polishing.

For the fourth year running, York, DiMartino, King and the other 13 members of the Hampton Roads club of Zonta International were sprucing up one of the more than a dozen shelters for displaced families operated by Samaritan House.

Each spring the small group of women from Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Suffolk redecorates and refurbishes a house the staff deems to be most in need of a face lift.

``What they do is what makes the difference between a shelter and a home,'' said Ellen Ferber, executive director of Samaritan House.

Thursday evening, the local club received a Group Achievement Award from Hampton Roads VOLUNTEER in recognition of its ongoing work with the shelters.

The annual redecorating project is an outgrowth of the club's plans to start a battered-women's shelter nearly a decade ago. After several years of fund raising and planning, Zonta members realized that they lacked the money and expertise to do the job on their own.

Instead, they donated the $10,000 they had raised to Samaritan House and made a commitment to support that group with volunteer help as well. Since that time they have been one of the charity's most consistent supporters.

``They've hung in there through a whole lot,'' Ferber said. ``When they couldn't do the money, they did the work.''

These days, Zonta does both.

Starting a couple of months ahead of time, members do a walk-through of the target house and figure out what is needed. Then they solicit donations, sell raffle tickets, raid their treasury, round up family and friends, open their own pocketbooks to buy cleaning supplies and get to work. Some years they can complete the job in a day; other years it takes two.

By noon Saturday, it was obvious that this was going to be a two-day job. Sofas and chairs - the indestructible crate variety - begged for new covers. Bedspreads had probably seen their best days before Bill Clinton was elected president. Curtains ranged from utilitarian to rag-bag fodder. And flecks of paint from a recent paint job covered just about everything.

With two months of preparation behind them, club members were more than ready to get to work. ``When we were putting the VOLUNTEER nomination together we decided to keep track of the hours we spend,'' said DiMartino, the club president. ``It's surprising how fast you get to 2,000 or more.''

Especially when you undertake a project that combines the most labor-intensive facets of spring cleaning and a total household face lift, followed by a complete restocking of linen closets and replacement of mismatched dishes and glassware.

``First we deep-clean, then we decorate,'' said Beth Lloyd, a program director for a United Way agency and chair of Zonta's service project.

``We try to coordinate everything, even do some theme rooms,'' she added as she picked through the stacks of matching comforters, sheets and curtains, most still sealed in their wrappings. ``Our main goal is to turn these shelters into cozy homes.''

Much of the responsibility for accomplishing that cozy feeling falls on DiMartino, the decorator. She is charged with pulling everything together.

Before the makeover is complete, she will add swags and toppers to the basic window treatments, pick out and place cheerful, child-safe pieces of art, and work her magic on the mismatched colors in the onetime garage that is now a dining room.

``It's been a challenge each time,'' said DiMartino, ``but it's almost like magic, the way it all comes together.

``And,'' she added, ``every woman in here is part of that magic.''

The Hampton Roads club is one of 1,100 Zonta International affiliates in 61 countries. Founded in 1919 in Buffalo, N.Y., the group's 36,000 members support women's education, leadership and development.

Although the Hampton Roads group, with only 16 members, is a small one, it has managed to do something that many other women's groups have not: attract younger members.

``Most of our members are active in their own professional organizations,'' said Lloyd. ``But they're really enthusiastic about working with us, too.'' MEMO: The club, which meets monthly, welcomes new members. Call

membership chair Barbara Giger at 490-9323 for information.

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