Rotary Continues Dictionary Tradition

The members of the Lamar Rotary continued their time-honored tradition of distributing hard-bound dictionaries to third grade students at Parkview School this past week. This week marks the 17^th year the Lamar Rotary has been collecting donations to pay for the books for several hundred students.  For many of these students this is the first ‘grown-up’ book they have ever received.

This year, 258 books went out to students in Prowers, Baca, Kiowa and Bent Counties. Judy Turpin, long-time Rotarian, noted that the organization can count on numerous sponsors who assist financially, to enable the project to continue for as long as it has.  Another major fund-raiser is the annual Ducky Dash contest which is held during Lamar Days.

The 3^rd graders are also given a quick lesson in how to make the best use of the dictionary.  While many are probably conversant with how to use a computer to search information on a subject, finding a table of contents or an index is a new experience.  Rotarian Karen Ketcham suggested the students track down the word, ‘farmer’ after the students received their own book.  Each donation becomes a personal event as every student is called by name to come up and receive their personalized gift from one of the Rotarians taking part in the annual distribution.

A rough estimate of past donations, coupled with the current 258 books, averages to just over 4,000 that have been donated by the Lamar Rotary over the past seventeen years. More information about the local contributions by the group is available at lamarrotary.org.

By Russ Baldwin