Rutland South Makes Youth Literacy a Central Mission

Youth literacy is a cornerstone of the Rutland South Rotary Club’s commitment to our community. Through several ongoing initiatives, our club works to encourage a love of reading and provide young learners with the tools they need to succeed.

Each week, our guest speaker is invited to sign a children’s book, which is then donated in the speaker’s name to the Rutland Free Library. Since this tradition began, the club has donated nearly 1,000 books, helping expand the library’s collection while recognizing the contributions of our guest speakers.

Rutland South Rotary is also a strong supporter of the local Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which provides free, age-appropriate books to children under the age of five in our community. To date, the club has contributed $6,500 to this important program, helping put books directly into the hands of local children and families.

For more than two decades, Rutland South Rotary has participated in Project Dictionary, a youth literacy initiative that has provided more than 10,000 dictionaries to third-grade students throughout the Rutland region.

Each year, students at Rutland Town School, Rutland Intermediate School, Christ the King School, Barstow Memorial School, Clarendon Elementary School, and Rutland Area Christian School receive a brand-new dictionary, complete with a custom Rutland South Rotary bookmark.

Rotarians personally deliver the dictionaries to classrooms, creating an engaging experience through interactive wordplay and language activities. These visits help students discover the value and fun of words while reinforcing the importance of reading and vocabulary development.

Longtime Rotarian and Project Dictionary organizer Roger Louiselle summed up the program’s impact: “Seeing the excitement on children’s faces when they get their first dictionary is truly special. These books play such an important role in helping them grow their language and vocabulary skills for years to come.”

Through these efforts, Rutland South Rotary continues to invest in education and literacy while empowering young learners across our community.