About 900 third graders in public and private schools as well as homeschoolers in the Morgan Hill area received a special delivery from the Rotary Club of Morgan Hill.
Rotarians went from school to school during the week of Jan. 26-30 and hand-delivered hardcover dictionaries to the youngsters. For the fourth straight year, the Rotary Club raised about $10,000 to purchase the dictionaries to hand out to third graders.
“We give dictionaries to third grade students to encourage and support literacy in our community,” said Rotarian Samia Reichel. “The process of looking up a definition in a hard bound dictionary teaches alphabetical organization, how to use guide words, spelling patterns, word meanings and parts of speech.”
Reichel has co-chaired the Rotary’s dictionary project along with Janene Towner-Chernoff since its inception in 2012.
Students get to keep the books, which come with a bookplate where the student can enter his or her name.
Morgan Hill Police Chief David Swing clears his schedule during dictionary delivery week and tries to make every school visit he can fit in. He speaks to all the children about how to use the dictionaries and explains the value of using books for references. Each school visit takes about a half hour.
“It’s definitely something I look forward to every year,” said Swing, who joined the Rotary Club shortly after being named the city’s chief of police four years ago.
For more information about the Morgan Hill Rotary Club, visit morganhillrotary.org.
