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Rotary is an opportunity to build
lifelong friendships and experience the personal fulfillment
of providing volunteer service to others.
An organization of business and professional leaders, Rotary
provides humanitarian service, encourages high ethical standards
in all vocations, and helps build goodwill and peace throughout
the world.
The world’s first service club, Rotary began with the formation
of the Rotary Club of Chicago, Illinois, USA, on 23 February
1905. The club was started by a young lawyer, Paul P. Harris,
and three of his friends. He wished to recapture the friendly
spirit he had felt among business people in the small town where
he had grown up. Their weekly meetings “rotated” among
their offices, providing the new service club with its name.
Today, as Rotary International, the organization flourishes
in 163 countries with some 31,000 clubs and 1.2 million men
and women members, providing community service in virtually
every nation in the world.
Dictionary Project
In third grade students are transitioning from learning to read to reading to learn. Instead of learning how to sound out words, the focus is learning the meaning of words and accessing information. At this critical point in a student’s life, the Mesa Rotary Clubs are making a difference.
For the third year in a row, the Mesa Rotary Clubs have taken part in The Dictionary Project, an effort to give all third graders in the country their own dictionary. Thanks to Rotary, every third grader in Mesa, over 7,000 children, receive their own dictionary to keep. Actually, it is more than a dictionary because it includes an atlas, the Constitution, information on planets, interesting facts and even sign language. In other words it is an engaging and motivating book at a crucial time when students are ready and eager to learn.
Students really love their dictionaries. For some it is the only book they own. For others, it becomes a family resource that is shared with parents and siblings. And Rotarians get as much from it as the students, as they see their excitement and curiosity about all the information. Teachers also are very enthusiastic and are very appreciative of the support and contributions from the community.
One student could not believe he was given a book to keep. As the Rotarians were doing their presentation his hand shot up and he asked, can I take it home? Why of course said the Rotarian. A few minutes later, can I leave it a school? Yes you can was the reply. After thinking that over he asked “Do I have to turn it in at the end of the year [like the textbooks]? No, it is yours. His hand went up one last time. When the Rotarian assured him that he could take it out of the country if he wished, he seemed satisfied that someone really did give him a book that was all his to keep.
The Dictionary Project is one of the most popular projects our clubs have undertaken. Members go into third grade classrooms for 15-20 minutes to present the dictionaries, and the excitement on the students’ faces is heart warming. And it is not expensive, about $60 per classroom. But like many Rotary projects throughout the world, the impact is huge.
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