More than 3,500 third-graders in 27 DeKalb and Gwinnett elementary schools have received their own personal dictionaries this year through a community service program conducted by the DeKalb County-based Atlanta Northlake Elks Lodge 78.
For the past six years members of the Elks Lodge 78 have delivered almost 20,000 dictionaries to students in the two counties.
“A dictionary is perhaps the first and most powerful reference tool that a child can own” said Harriet Sager, coordinator of the Elks Lodge 78 Dictionary Program. “Its usefulness goes beyond the spell-ing, pronunciation, and definitions it lists; it is a companion for solving problems that arise as a child develops his or her reading, writing, and creative thinking abilities.”
Because of today’s economic climate and school budget cuts, many school districts are struggling with rising day-to-day operating costs and are not financially able to provide dictionaries to individual students, added Ms. Sager.
The Dictionary Project was founded in 1995 by Mary French of Charleston, S.C. The sole mission of her non-profit organization — which the Elks share — is to dis-tribute dictionaries to as many third-graders as possible in the 50 United States and its environs.
In 2004 the Elks became involved and dictionaries have been distributed to every state, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. More than 12 million children have re-ceived dictionaries since the pro-gram started.
The dictionaries distributed by the Atlanta Northlake Elks titled “The Best Dictionary For Students” also contains a Table of Weights and Measures, information on the 50 states, as well as several other factual sections.
“Our students were very excited to get their own individual diction-aries and they use them all the time,” said Henderson Mill Ele-mentary School third-grade teacher Kelli Davis.
DeKalb elementary schools given dictionaries and the numbers given were Brockett (86), Evansdale (103), Smoke Rise (99), Henderson Mill (94), Livsey (62), Midvale (70), Sagamore (100), Briar Vista (80), Briarlake (75), Idlewood (138), Dresden (145), Hawthorne (88), McLendon (118), Medlock (66), Montgomery (95), Oak Grove (120), Pleasantdale (152) and Woodward (130).
The Northlake Elks are also involved in a variety of other youth projects including scholarships, essay contests, drug and alcohol awareness and Aidmore Children’s Center, an area home for troubled teenage girls.
The Tucker lodge No. 78, founded in 1892, also works closely with the local VA Hospital. It is located at 1775 Montreal Road, Tucker, GA 30084.
Information: (770) 908-0835 or (770) 493-9664.