Rotary Club Donates Dictionaries to Belmont Third-Graders

Belmont third graders received a late Christmas present this year -- brand-new dictionaries donated from the Rotary Club.

Jim McGovern, the only two-term president of the Belmont Rotary Club, delivered the 418 Macmillan dictionaries himself to third grade students in the , as well as at and the , on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week.

McGovern lugged the 40-pound boxes of books in his pickup truck to each of the eight schools, where the children and teachers greeted him with delight.

"Each school would bring their third grade class into a meeting hall, and I’d give them a little talk on what Rotary is and what community service is," McGovern said. "They enjoyed it."

The Rotary Club began donated dictionaries to students in 2007 in a nationwide effort to promote education. Belmont's current Rotary President Sharrie Kriger said Belmont is one of a number of clubs in the Bay Area Rotary district to participate in the dictionary donation.

"It's neat to put a reference book in the hands of kids early on," Kriger said. "Kids and teachers both talk about the fact that for whatever reason at that age, kids think it’s cool to get their very own first dictionary."

She said the Rotary Club initially ordered enough dictionaries -- which cost the club about $10 each, as opposed to the $40 retail price -- for each of the third-graders at the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District's six elementary schools.

But McGovern then decided to ask Rotarians for additional donations in order to provide dictionaries for third-graders at two of the local private elementary schools as well.

"They're beautiful books," Kriger said. "And it’s a real feel-good type of project. You'd think with all of the tech stuff available, like iPods and video games, that kids would have everything to distract them from a dictionary."

But, she said, the children are continuously excited each year to receive the dictionaries.