We have been participating in the Dictionary Project for over 5 years, and various school districts have been the recipient. We chose the Middleton School District for the 3rd consecutive year because of the need. The children and teachers as well as involved Rotarians feel blessed and excited when the project commences.

Absolutely the the best project with the greatest impact on young children’s lives we have ever done.

We have done this project since 2002 and have given out over 2,000 books to 3rd graders in Pamlico County. It is a great project. We do many good things for the people in this county, but I feel that we get “more bang for the buck” from this project! The thank-you letters from the kids make it all worthwhile.

In this day and age of computers, smartphones, and the worldwide web, it is still staggering to read reports on the state of our schools. In an effort to help improve literacy, our club started providing dictionaries to every 3rd-grade student in Hawkins County in 2007, and to date we have distributed over 2,500 books. It is truly a blessing to be able to... Read More

This is my favorite project. Sitting on the floor with 30 eager 3rd graders is a trip!! This is such a good way to reach the youngsters in our community.

We have participated in the dictionary project for the last 7 years. Now every 3rd grader has a dictionary. Before this project the schools were limited to 1 to 3 dictionaries per classroom. The dictionaries are a valuable information tool which holds the attention of 3rd graders.

We started this project about 5 years ago, and the schools are delighted, as are the teachers and parents. A wonderful project. As we return to the schools each year, the teachers tell us that the children continue to use their dictionaries as their grade levels advance – they do not “outgrow” them.

Willmar Lakes Rotary’s vision is to eliminate child illiteracy in Kandiyohi County, Minnesota.