RB Sunrise Rotary Donates Dictionaries

Rotarian Jay Riordan distributing dictionaries

There is no better thing in life than the joy in a child’s eyes. Rotarians from the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club were privileged to see that joy last Tuesday as well as improving child literacy as they delivered easy to use dictionaries to 9 Area schools as part of a cooperative annual program among the local Rotary Clubs that puts a dictionary in the hands of every third grader in Poway Unified School District.

“As we’ve been doing this for several years now, we often meet third graders who recognize the dictionaries because an older brother or sister has one.” said Rotarian Alison Farrin. In one case, it was a perfect lead in to explain Rotary’s motto of Service Above Self, when a young man raised his hand and said, “I already have one. My brother gave it to me.” Jay Riordan simply handed him a second one and asked, “Please find someone who needs a dictionary and pass your second one on to him.” Four Rotarians delivered dictionaries to Valley Elementary, interacting with several classrooms of third graders. Some third graders quizzed the Rotarians about how to use the dictionaries. Others asked about Rotary and what it does. We enjoyed each class, but particularly one that was clearly a both Spanish and English immersion class, where they were about to start a new lesson that required the children to look up new words in the dictionary. A timely delivery!