Sabbathday Day – Dictionary Project

By Steven Haycock | Sabbathday Lake Grange #365

New Gloucester, Maine – The Grange is proud to support The Dictionary Project through its Word for Thirds program. Through the tireless efforts of the Grange’s network of more than 300,000 volunteers, America’s oldest rural and agriculture organization has presented third grade students across the nation with more than 100,000 dictionaries.

And, that number will continued to rise when the Sabbathday Lake Grange #365 presents third grade students at Burchard A. Dunn Elementary School in New Gloucester with dictionaries on during a recent visit.
A dictionary is one of the most powerful reference tools young children will be introduced to during their schooling years. Its usefulness goes beyond just providing correct spellings, pronunciations, and definitions. It is also a companion for solving problems that arise as children develop their reading, writing, and creative thinking abilities.

“It is amazing to see the smiles on children’s faces when we presented them with dictionaries,” Steven Haycock, Sabbathday Lake Grange Secretary, said. “It gives them a sense of pride when they have a dictionary to look up words on their own. It promotes learning and helps mold their self-confidence and independence.”  Sabbathday Lake Grange has donated over 1,200 dictionaries to the Dunn School over the past seven years.  “We would not be able to donate these dictionaries without the support of the customers who have bought raffle tickets at our Grange functions over the years.  This year we want to thank Cole Farms Restaurant in Gray, Shaw’s and Wal-Mart in Windham for the generous donations of prizes for our raffle this past year,” said Secretary Haycock.

The Grange, headquartered in Washington, D.C., partnered with The Dictionary Project, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization, in 2002. The goal of the program is to assist third grade students to complete the school year as good writers, active readers and creative thinkers by providing them with their own personal dictionaries. The dictionaries are a gift to each student to use at school and at home for years to come. The organization has presented more than 1.8 million children with dictionaries.   For more information about Sabbathday Lake Grange please contact Steven Haycock at Gr**********@*ol.com, and for more information about the Grange in Maine please visit www.mainestategrange.org or call 1-800-464-3421.