Indiana Lions encouraged to expand the Dictionary Project

Following our Indiana theme for the International Convention in Seattle, "IN THE RACE SERVING MANKIND", I hope all Lions Clubs are now RACING to be involved in the Dictionary Project for the school year 2011-2012. There is a new class of 3rd graders to be served, dictionaries to be presented, new lessons to be learned, and smiles to be garnered by the sponsors as the students are presented their very own books, maybe even a "thank you" note or letter to be read at the next club meeting. For many of these children, it will be the first thing, other than a toy, that they can say is truly their own.

We, as LIONS, need to be aware of ALL the children that we can serve: church and parochial schools, home school groups, Amish schools, and even children in homeless shelters, as well as the children in our public schools. All of these children will grow up to be citizens of our country, and they need to be literate and educated adults. That’s where "SERVING MANKIND": gets involved.

On the DICTIONARY PROJECT website last year, I saw where several states and territories had 100% of all 3rd graders receiving dictionaries: Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Montana, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Virgin Islands, and Wyoming. Wouldn’t it be great if the LIONS of 25-G could say all the 3rd graders in our district have received dictionaries? How about all of Indiana? WE SERVE!

Please let DG Lana Wilson or me know how many dictionaries your club gives out. I hope we can surpass the estimated 4,400 of last year.