Pine Island third grade benefits from Dictionary Project
Third-grade students at Pine Island Public School received a gift that will last them a lifetime – their very own dictionaries. The dictionaries were given to the students by the Pine Island Lions Club on September 27. They worked with the non-profit organization, Dictionary Project, to make this donation possible.
Pine Island Lions Club members Nadeen Lunde, Dennis Bailey, Ken DeBoer and Ron Taallerud (all former Pine Island School educators) presented the students with their personal dictionaries that they can use at school or at home. A Lions vest, pins, and flags were also on display for the students to see. Lunde told the students she wants to stop back at the school at a later date to see how they are using their new dictionaries. Eight years ago, Lunde became the first female member of the Pine Island Lions Club and was the first female president. Currently, the Pine Island Lions Club has 64 members, eight of whom are female. For more information about the Pine Island Lions Club visit www. pineislandlions.org
Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization with 1.35 million members in more than 45,000 clubs worldwide (207 countries). Founded in 1917, Lions are best known for fighting blindness. Lions also volunteer for many different kinds of community projects, including caring for the environment, feeding the hungry and aiding seniors and the disabled. The Lions Club motto is "We Serve."
The Dictionary Project’s website (www.dictionaryproject.org), states, "The goal of this program is to assist all students in becoming good writers, active readers, creative thinkers and resourceful learners by providing them with their own personal dictionary." The project is nationwide and also in a few foreign countries. Third-grade students are the target for the dictionaries, but the Dictionary Project also has items for older students, as well as adults who are learning English as a second language. Since the project began in 1995, they have given more than 16 million children dictionaries through the help of sponsors like the Lions Club.
