THE DICTIONARY PROJECT

The Dictionary Project organization is a nonprofit effort that has distributed more than 18 million dictionaries to school children throughout the United States since it was founded in 1995.

The project started with a Georgia woman who gave 50 dictionaries to children attending school close to her home. In 1995, a South Carolina woman picked up the effort and launched The Dictionary Project organization. The project has since been adopted by service organizations like the Rotary Club and over 31 million children have received dictionaries.

MISSION STATEMENT

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 dictionaries are a gift to each student to use at school and at home for years to come. Educators see third grade as the dividing line between learning to read and reading to learn, so we encourage our sponsors to give dictionaries each year to children in the third grade.

The Dictionary Project started 2009 in Litchfield. Each year, roughly 300 dictionaries are distributed to 3rd graders within Meeker County. Schools include Lake Ripley Elementary, Eden Valley Elementary, ACGC Elementary, Riverview Christian School in Grove City and the local ESL program. To date, over 3,000 dictionaries have been distributed.