Fremont Elks is proud to distribute over 3,000 dictionaries to 3rd grade students
Fremont Elks is proud to distribute over 3,000 dictionaries to 3rd grade students in the Fremont, New Haven, San Lorenzo and Castro Valley school districts. The Elks nationwide have partnered with The Dictionary Project to provide quality dictionaries for the students to be able to keep as their own. Fremont had participated for a number of years in this project and due to the belief that technology no longer deemed the paperback dictionaries to be of a value, we discontinued. The program re-started again in the Fall of 2013 when we were approached by a representative of Fremont Unified School District mentioned that they were disappointed the program had discontinued. She shared how the students at the school she had taught at looked forward to when Mr. Dave Nazar would present each of them their own dictionary. For many children it was like receiving a Christmas gift. At the request of this teacher, we opened the program back up to selected schools in Fremont where money was not as lucrative. As we were distributing information about our Drug Awareness Contest yet another school asked why we discontinued the program so that first year, 5 schools in Fremont received dictionaries. The following year, the program expanded and every year continues to expand as the demand for the dictionaries remains a very high demand. The technology is still an area that does conflict which is why we developed a point of contact in each district who helps us monitor the schools that do receive the dictionaries. They realize the value of our service and do not wish to spend money unnecessarily. Each year, we have about 20 – 25 members who help prepare the dictionaries for distribution and help label the dictionaries. Once they are labeled, we have between 8-10 volunteers who visit the schools and have the privilege of delivering the dictionaries to the classes. To see the smile and enjoyment of the students as they receive their dictionary will convince anyone of the value of what we provide. To date, over 29,000,000 dictionaries have been distributed nationwide through this program with over 763,000 just this year alone.
