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USA Dictionary Project |
| The Gift of Words – Serving our Youth Since 2001 |
 The
USA Dictionary Project is a proven service project owned and managed by
The Rotary Club of Colorado Springs InterQuest, Colorado Springs, CO USAThis project started from a shared dream between two Rotarians. In 2001 it became a Matching Grant project between India D3150 and seven clubs in Southern Colorado lead by the Lamar Rotary club. These seven clubs distributed 5400 books the first year. In 2006 ninety Rotary clubs in seven states and seven Rotary districts participated and distributed 19,000 dictionaries. We feel this is one of the greatest Rotary Club projects ever and we continue to receive testimonials on how this project has impacted our youth. We share these thank you letters with all of our club members. Growth of the project comes from word of mouth. Each of you sharing your stories with other Rotary clubs and districts here in the United States helps this project continue to grow.  Colorado Springs InterQuest adds 960 students to their local dictionary project! In this year of economic downturn the 28 member COS InterQuest club voted to support 960 additional 3rd grade students near their service area. “We felt that with Make Dreams Real as our years theme we needed to do more” said member Darlene Cramm who spear headed the clubs local project. This meant the club needed to fund almost 4000 dictionaries or $37,000 project cost this year. The new area included students located in three school districts in Northeastern rural El Paso County with very low reading scores. The club has supported over 2500 students a year for the past 7 years in 4 school districts plus several charter and private schools. This year they also formed a partnership with the Monument Sertoma club to take on support of students in the Monument area. The Sertoma club was asked to help with a $1500 sponsorship and ended up taking on the whole project for this districts 402 students. Sertomans were so impressed they have already agreed to continue next year. InterQuest membership and their sponsors ended up distributing hardcover dictionaries to 3672 students in December. InterQuest club supports their project with 78 book sponsorship opportunities to local businesses for $750.00 plus provides $10,000 in club funds. For more information contact Darlene at dcramm1@msn.com USAdictionary project.org is owned and managed by the InterQuest Rotary Club. USA Dictionary Project sets all time record with a 24% increase. National Chair Scott Allen and PE of COS InterQuest reports that 34,446 3rd graders nationwide were provided with their very own hardcover dictionary in December 2008. Thank you for your support! This represents 70 TONS of books worth $700,000 of Scholastic dictionaries being given to local 3rd graders in over 120 clubs in 13 states this year. Many of these clubs reported major media coverage in their service area. RC of Greater Rochester (NY, 1400 books) reported the Rochester Post Bulletin provided a full page spread and included the following statement – …Let's hope those volumes are put to good use. Yes, it might be faster and easier to simply type a word into a computer, but a teachable moment occurs when a student asks "How do I look up a word if I don't know how to spell it?" Trial-and-error and process-of-elimination are skills every child should acquire, and practicing with a dictionary is a great way to learn them. Furthermore - we must admit some journalistic bias here - we think that "accidental" exposure to new words can be fun for children and adults of any age. Using an online dictionary might be more efficient, but flipping pages is an interesting way to expand one's vocabulary. The smiles on the kids' faces was proof of that. And finally - we admit a LOT of journalistic bias here - we rather appreciate the authority a real, physical dictionary conveys. In a world where expedience has reduced concerns about grammar, punctuation and spelling to mere afterthoughts, a dictionary attempts to hold the line against linguistic indifference. Perhaps it's a losing battle, but the longer it takes for today's third-graders to figure that out, the better off they'll be... RC of Wichita (KS) and the RC of CS InterQuest (CO) continue as the largest single clubs to purchase for their service areas. Scott says the continued success of this project has far exceeded any dreams, expectations or goals this project had from its start in 2001 with 1800 books. The continued sharing with others by word of mouth allows this project to grow over 20% each year. Scott reports the goal for next year will approach 50,000 books and wants us all to remember the deadline in 2009 is once again October 1, 2009. Projects details are maintained on their website at www.usadictionaryproject.org. Project is now the largest single purchaser of hardcover dictionaries in the whole world. This non-profit dictionary project is owned and managed by the Rotary Club of Colorado Springs InterQuest. For information please contact usadictionary@comcast.net |
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