By Anna Skinner
For the fourth year in a row, the Westfield Lions Club donated dictionaries to all third graders in the Westfield Washington School District.
The Dictionary Project delivered 572 dictionaries to students this year.
“It’s a lot of fun for us Lions to visit with all of these third graders and give them a little background on what the Lions Club is all about,” said Jeff Larrison, Westfield Lion and chairman of the Dictionary Project in Westfield. “Some of the students have heard about us and our programs, or have been to our clubhouse for an event. And it makes our day to see how excited they get when they find out they each are getting their very own dictionaries.”
Since the Westfield Lions Club hopped onto the national program, they have delivered 2,200 dictionaries over four years.
According to Larrison, kids have been very receptive and thankful for the dictionaries they were given.
“It was surprising to hear that a large number of the students in the Westfield school system don’t seem to have easily accessible computers or tablets to look up definitions and spellings for words,” Larrison said. “These dictionaries filled a big gap in the learning system for these students.”
The Lions buy the dictionaries from the Dictionary Project, which originated in Georgia, and receive them in October, delivering them to every third grader in all six elementary schools.
“It’s turned out to be a very rewarding experience for the Lions to make the presentations and deliveries of the dictionaries. The joy of the students is very evident. Plus, their ‘thank you’ notes are the best,” Larrison said.
For more, visit westfieldlions.org or dictionaryproject.org.
