All over our Rotary world, even in Hobbiton, September is Basic Education and Literacy month.  As I write this, NYS schools have been mandated to mask up, as classes resume live – at least at this time! 
If this is the case, we should be able to deliver our Dictionaries for the Dictionary Project – to all 3rd graders in the district.  This is a terrific project, as we get to talk to the students not only about the dictionary and its contents, but we get to tell them a little bit about Rotary, too!  Quite often, this dictionary is the very first book these children have ever had of their own!
Can you imagine walking into a grocery store and not being able to read the words on the boxes, bags, or cans?   Having to decipher what’s in the container by the picture?  Try it some time and see how difficult it is to decide if you are buying dog food or stew.  The labels don’t always contain a true picture!  Basic Education is so important – it is the prescription for getting out of poverty.  Without being able to read, people are unable to read employment ads, sale flyers, so much more  – and that means no work, no money, no way out.
 
Notices like this would be useless without the ability to read and decipher their meaning:
 
 
The Literacy Seminar that was scheduled for September 18 in Bloomfield unfortunately has been postponed for the moment.  The committee is working hard to bring a valuable program to the district later this Rotary year.  If you have an idea for a great literacy program or speaker, please contact Pam Dean or JoAnn Terry.
 
From RI President Shekhar Mehta’s September column, he quotes Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai: “One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.”
 
Think about volunteering at your local Literacy office.  Teaching one child to read Serves to Change Lives.