Frankfort Lodge #530 distributed 677 dictionaries, bookmarks and drug awareness ribbons to every third grader in the Franklin County and Frankfort Independent School districts, along with Capital Day, Frankfort Christian Academy and Good Shepherd Schools. Pictured above is Ms. Cracraft’s third grade class from Collins Lane Elementary along with Loyal Knight Mark Ruble and Elk member Leigh Skaggs, who chairs the Dictionary Project at Frankfort Lodge.

The Dictionary Project was founded in 1995 by Mary French of Charleston, SC. Its primary focus is to promote literacy to children in third grade as they transition from learning how to read to identifying and using information. Over the course of the program, nearly 15 million third-grade students have received dictionaries including about 2.5 million dictionaries donated in 2009.

Elks joined this movement in 2004. Nationwide they have donated more than 1.2 million dictionaries to third-grade students and their teachers as sponsors of The Dictionary Project over the last 6 years. There are 600 lodges that actively participate in the program. Along with contributing to our communities, this project is also a part of the Elks National Drug Awareness Program.

Big thanks to Bill and Sandy Moore for their support and guidance, to Leigh Skaggs for chairing this very important project along with help from Mark Ruble and Charlie Cunningham.