South Orangetown Rotary and Orange & Rockland Light the Way with Dictionary Donation

South Orangetown Rotary and Orange & Rockland Light the Way with Dictionary Donation

The South Orangetown Rotary Club, in partnership with Orange & Rockland Utilities, Inc., continued its commitment to literacy by presenting dictionaries to third grade students at Cottage Lane Elementary School in Blauvelt, New York.

Since launching this initiative in 2006, the Rotary Club has ensured every third grader in the district receives a personal copy of A Student’s Dictionary through their Literacy Project. This year’s event was another milestone in that long-standing tradition.

Rotarian Bruce Woolley emphasized the program’s mission, stating, “Every third grader in the district gets his or her own dictionary as part of the South Orangetown Rotary Club’s Literacy Project.”

Trish Austin, Regional and Community Affairs Manager for Orange & Rockland, joined the presentation and delivered an inspiring message:

“Words are the keys to everyday life, happiness, and success. Those keys can help open up a whole new world for these students.”

She also quoted Mark Twain to drive home the value of precise language:

“The difference between the right word and almost the right word is like the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.”

This initiative not only strengthens vocabulary skills but also sparks curiosity, offering young learners a lifetime tool to explore language and ideas.