Local Rotary Clubs to Give Dictionaries to Nearly 2,500 Third Graders

ROTARY CLUB RELEASE

Tis the season when six local service organizations band together to support literacy in the community’s public schools.

For the 16th straight year, the six local Rotary clubs within the San Ramon Valley ( Alamo, Danville, Danville/Sycamore, Dougherty Valley San Ramon, San Ramon and San Ramon Valley) are once again combining their efforts to place a printed dictionary in the hands of every third grade student in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District.

“Our Club is always excited to participate in this long-standing tradition,” said Barry Toby, President of the Rotary Club of San Ramon.

"This is a great way for all six clubs in our community to unite on the common purpose of supporting literacy in our schools. Rotary’s presence is very strong in the San Ramon Valley, and this is another example of that,” he said.

This year the six local Rotary clubs are distributing over 2,400 dictionaries, one for every 3rd grade student in the 21 elementary schools in the district. The cost of the dictionaries is split between the six local Rotary Clubs.

“I love to see the students’ faces light up when we hand them their book,” said Don French, San Ramon Rotarian and one of the organizers of the program.

The printed dictionaries are hand-delivered by members of the six clubs to third grade classrooms this Fall.

The program was started by then District Governor George E. Chaffey in 1997-1998.  

This is the 16th year the local Rotary clubs have provided dictionaries to all 3rd grade students in the SRVUSD at the start of their Language Arts learning program.

Do you use a dictionary, or do you look up words online? Leave your thoughts in a comment.