Holding new dictionaries they received from Sequim Rotarians are Five Acre School fourth-graders (back row, from left) Hannah Gloor, Fiona Feighner, Carson Lujan, Elizabeth Hayes, Jade Harris and Tane Ridle, with school assistant Julie Karrizosa. Photo by Dick Hughes


Sequim Rotarians handed out nearly 300 dictionaries to Sequim fourth-grade students at Helen Haller and Greywolf elementary schools, the Olympic Peninsula Academy, Five Acre School and the Seventh-day Adventist School earlier this month.
 

The Harry Hughes Memorial Dictionary Project is an annual event sponsored by Sequim Noon Rotary. Since the program was started 11 years ago, the club has given Sequim fourth-graders nearly $23,000 worth of colorful hardbound dictionaries from publishers Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
 

"Our dictionary project is one of the most fun things we do every year," Rotary President Sara Maloney said.
 

"I think nearly every student in Sequim from fourth grade on up has one of our dictionaries on their personal bookshelf at home."
 

The project is one of the local programs funded by Sequim Noon Rotary's annual salmon bake and barbecue fundraiser.
 

Rotary International is the world's first service club organization, with more than 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary Club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally and internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, promote peace and eradicate polio under the motto "Service Above Self."
 

More information about the Rotary Club of Sequim may be found at www.sequimnoonrotary.org.