In 2017, with the leadership and personal involvement of then Exalted Ruler Paul Diaz, the Lodge vastly expanded the Dictionary Project for third-grade students. Educators tell us that up to grade three, students are learning to read. From the third grade on, they are reading to learn. Having their own dictionary and learning how to use it has shown to enhance this process.
After meeting with the District Coordinator for Elementary Education for the Indian River County School District, the Lodge received full support to expand its program from its humble beginning the previous school year.
The Lodge raised the funds for this program by holding several Kards 4 Kids Charity Texas Hold’em Tournaments. Prior to distribution, Lodge members labeled every dictionary with message depicting where the dictionaries came from.
We supplied dictionaries to 10 schools in the District. They were:
- Pelican Island Elementary;
- Citrus Elementary;
- Glendale Elementary;
- Osceola Magnet ;
- Indian River Academy ;
- Vero Beach Elementary ;
- Beachland Elementary;
- Dodgertown Elementary;
- Sebastian Elementary; and
- Treasure Coast Elementary.
One Charter School, Rosewood Magnet, received their dictionaries from our Lodge as part of a Gratitude Grant from the Elks National Foundation.
A Lodge member donated funds for dictionaries for St. Helen School so they could be included in the program.
Pictured above is Exalted Ruler Paul Diaz and Pat Diaz giving third-grade students an overview of their new dictionary.
In all, over 1,100 dictionaries were distributed in 2017. We continued this very rewarding program in the 2018-19 school year.
Our dictionaries were distributed to:
- Beachland Elementary;
- Citrus Elementary;
- Dodgertown Elementary;
- Glendale Elementary;
- Indian River Academy;
- Osceola Magnet School;
- Vero Beach Elementary;
- Imagine School;
- St. Peter’s Academy; and
- St. Helen Catholic School.
A secondary purpose of our work with the Dictionary Project is to make the children aware of the dangers of drugs. Each dictionary we present comes with a bookmark which reinforces this message. We bring our mascot, Elroy the Elk, on our school visits to make a lasting impression on the children.
Public Information Office of the School District of Indian River County was so impressed with our program that they created this video.
The 2020-21 school year was different because of COVID-19 restrictions. We were not be able to conduct an assembly at each school and have a visit by Elroy the Elk. We made drop-offs to the schools and each dictionary had a letter from Elroy the Elk. You can read Elroy’s letter to the students here.
Hello Third Grade Students
Pictured here left to right is Project Manager Paul Diaz,PER and Ray Ketcham delivering over 100 dictionaries to Osceola Magnet School principal Dr. Chadwick Bacon.
Unfortunately, we will not be able conduct an assembly for the 2021-2022 school year because of continuing COVID-19 restrictions. We are following the same procedures as the previous year in delivering the dictionaries.
