Vincent Marshall Dodge City Globe
It has been a goal to promote literacy and inspire young people early in life to develop solid reading and dictionary skills for the past 17 years.
Third graders across Ford County will receive a special gift from the Dodge City Rotary Club — their very own dictionary.
The Rotary Club will provide under 640 hard back, 648 page dictionaries to third graders from Dodge City, Sacred Heart, Bucklin, Spearville and Jetmore that contain colorful graphics, allowing students to associate the words with images.
The Dictionary Project is part of a national program for all Rotary Clubs.
The Dodge City program began in 2005 and is made in part by state Rotary Clubs and local business sponsors.
“It is a way to reach out to the entire county, not just a project for one community,” club member and organizer Lowell Brakey said. “It is literally reaching out to the entire community. Rotary being a civic club feels the reading and writing comprehension skills of the students is very important.”
Beginning in 1992, the idea for The Dictionary Project began when Annie Plummer of Savannah, Georgia, gave 50 dictionaries to children who attended a school near her home.
In preceding years, Plummer continued to give the gift of the dictionary and went on to raise money to give more and more books and led to being a nonprofit organization in 1995 through members of the community in Georgia.
Over 27 million children have received dictionaries since its implementation in 1995.
The Dodge City Rotary Club has placed over 10,500 dictionaries in Ford County and Jetmore.
According to the Dodge City Rotary Club, studies have shown that the third grade is the best age and grade for students to begin learning the dictionary.
The dictionaries will be handed out to students in classrooms some time in February as soon as The Rotary Club has met its business sponsors goal, print up the labels that show who the sponsors are for 2021-22 which is pasted inside the front cover of the book.
“We have been doing this to give the students a leg up for learning,” said Roy Betz, another Rotary member. “We felt in the third grade, this is when they start looking at the dictionary.”
President of the Dodge City Rotary Club Don Gregg added, “It’s very rewarding to come to the school, pass out the books and see the reaction of the kids when you give them something like a dictionary. I think they really appreciate it.”
Other Rotary members shared that for some students, the dictionary is the first book they will ever own which contributes to literacy.
The Dodge City Rotary Club meets every Monday at noon at the Boot Hill Casino & Resort Conference Center and is always looking for new members. All persons of good will are welcome.
To contact the writer, email vmarshall@cherryroad.com
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