Members of the Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield hand out dictionaries as end-of-school year gifts to third graders at Winnetka’s Crow Island School. Rotarians from left to right, Penny Lanphier, Literacy Chairperson Dr. Jeanne Beckman, Incoming President Rich Lalley, and Joe Fell.
Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield Distributes Dictionaries to Local Students
June 11, 2009 (Winnetka, IL)
Continuing its 85 year tradition of community service, The Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield this week provided a end-of-year gift to every third grade student in the Winnetka and Northfield public schools. Working with The Dictionary Project and Premier Literacy, local Rotarians acquired and distributed printed and computer software dictionaries to third graders at Winnetka’s Hubbard Woods, Greeley and Crow Island schools and Northfield’s Middlefork school. Gifts were also made to all special needs students throughout the two districts. The project was funded by the club’s charitable foundation and a grant from Rotary District 6440.
“Promoting education and literacy is a core value of our club, reflecting the priorities of the community in which we live and work”, said Joan Evanich, Chairperson of the Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Charitable Foundation. “We look for and support projects throughout the world, including in our own back yard.”
“We chose to provide these gifts to third graders because that is the time when reading skills rapidly advance”, said the club’s Literacy Chairperson Dr. Jeanne Beckman, who initiated the project for the club. “Dictionaries and thesauruses are great tools to help children further their vocabularies, allowing them greater pleasure and benefit from reading.”
The Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Charitable Foundation contributes to local, national and international charities and service projects. Local recipients include the Hadley School for the Blind, the Glencoe Educational Foundation, Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation, Communities in Schools Chicago, Haven Youth and Family Services, Jewish Vocational Service and Employment Center and Lawrence Hall Youth Services in Chicago. Internationally, the foundation has supported schools and libraries in Uganda, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Viet Nam.
The Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield meets Thursdays from 12:15 to 1:30 at the Winnetka Community House for lunch and a speaker. Membership is open to service oriented residents and workers of the area. Guests are welcome to attend. To learn more about the club and its schedule of lunch programs, visit www.wnrotary.org.
