This is the news release that we have shared with the media - in this photo, a teacher projects a dictionary page on the wall and explains to the students how to do a search for the word "complicated":
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (November 13, 2018) —The Allentown Rotary Club, a well-established civic organization in the city, continues to invest in their local community and today’s Dictionary Project was yet another example of their commitment to “service above self.” An annual tradition for over 10 years, volunteers donated dictionaries to all the third graders in the Allentown School District to help improve literacy rates among area children.
Approximately 20-25 Rotary volunteers spread out across 13 schools including 50 classrooms to personally hand out dictionaries and interact with 1,343 students and teachers. The distribution of these dictionaries is the culmination of the project, but it requires weeks of planning by Project Co-Chairs John Hannis and Larry Campbell.
Prior to handing them out at school,
volunteer Rota
rians add Rotary meticulously label each book and pack them in boxes. Each box is clearly marked that it's for the Dictionary Project and are sorted by school, classroom and teacher to ensure delivery to the correct location in the correct quantities. Members who participated in the packing day included John Hannis, Michael Orbin, Wally Eldridge, and Larry Campbell.
rians add Rotary meticulously label each book and pack them in boxes. Each box is clearly marked that it's for the Dictionary Project and are sorted by school, classroom and teacher to ensure delivery to the correct location in the correct quantities. Members who participated in the packing day included John Hannis, Michael Orbin, Wally Eldridge, and Larry Campbell.This project has been a favorite of Rotarians and was the brainchild of Rotarian Amy Meleck who chaired the project initially.
Larry Campbell, co-chair, said: “The most rewarding part of the project is to share in the excitement and joy of the children receiving their own dictionaries because some kids are receiving their own book for the very first time. After distribution, the teachers work with the children to assist them in writing thank you notes. Reading these thank you notes reminds us all why we volunteered in the first place.”
