Members of the Rotary Club handed out hundreds of dictionaries Friday morning to every third grader in Lee County.
Each year the clubs, who order and pay for the English and bilingual dictionaries, hand them out to excited children. Members of the Lee County School Board and Dr. James Browder, superintendent of schools, made appearances at different schools across the district.
Phyllis Shelton, a member of the Rotary Club of Cape Coral North, said her group of volunteers were responsible for handing out dictionaries at Patriot Elementary, Hector A. Cafferata Elementary, Trafalgar Elementary and Christa McAuliffe Elementary.
“Most of these children expect to be using their dictionaries through the rest of their school years,” said Shelton.
She told students at Trafalgar Elementary about the Rotary Club and what it does in the community. There are three Rotary clubs in Cape Coral, she said, and one of their responsibilities is to maintain Rotary Park in the southern district.
Shelton also explained the Rotary Club emblem, the gear wheel, and had the children turn to page 279 to look up the definition of rotary.
“There are a lot of good resources in it, and I know you will use it a lot,” said Shelton.
The children excitedly flipped through the pages of their new dictionaries, looking up words and other information contained in them. Besides offering a standard dictionary, these books also have world maps, facts about other countries, a copy of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and a list of all the U.S. presidents.
Kym Bisbe, media specialist at Trafalgar Elementary, said the school has been receiving dictionaries from Rotary for the last seven years.
“They use them for homework, class work and a lot of the kids keep them in their backpacks,” said Bisbe.
There are 180 third graders at Trafalgar Elementary and each received a new dictionary on Friday. Bisbe said the children are always excited about this program.
“If you are holding a dictionary, you are a lucky person,” she said to the children.