Twenty-two secondary school students each received a pocket Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus compliments of the New Amsterdam Lions Club at a simple presentation held at the Lions Den in Vryman’s Erven recently.
In brief remarks at the presentation, Lion Marlyn La Rose said that one of Lions International’s core objectives was to promote numeracy and literacy, and as such it was hoped that the distribution of dictionaries would spark interest in students to develop their literary abilities. “Clubs worldwide are encouraged to engage the young in numeracy, social and environmental programmes. Today, we the members are pleased to be in a position to assist these students with an improved quality of literacy by presenting each of them with a copy of a dictionary.”
Further, she said, “a dictionary is a very important educational tool, a necessity for school as well as work life and even beyond that.” As such, the recipients were urged to “take full care, make full use of them in order to enhance your learning.”
Financing for the initiative was made available from a Pre-Emancipation Breakfast Fund Raiser held in August. The recipients, selected by the members of the club, were drawn from New Amsterdam and its environs.
