Those who have been in the Central Kitsap School District in the third grade may remember a day where they received a dictionary. In order to promote literacy, the Rotary Clubs of Kitsap County donates dictionaries to all CKSD third graders every year, usually right before spring break. This March marks the 15th year of this event.
“On a local level the Silverdale Rotary Club supports the local community and other non-profits,” said Silverdale Rotary Club member Galina Georgieva. “We provide food and monetary support to other organizations to help families and kids with food insecurity. We focus on youth and education, scholarships and various other projects.”
Every year, the Rotary Clubs of Kitsap County, which include the Silverdale Rotary Club and the East Bremerton Rotary Club, work together to achieve this project. They reach out to Silverdale, Green Mountain, Cougar Valley, Clear Creek, Silver Ridge, and Emerald Heights Elementary Schools and poll them in the fall to determine the total number of all third-graders. The East Bremerton Rotary reaches out to the other schools in the district.
“Dick Simms from EBR (East Bremerton Rotary) orders the books and prints the labels that go inside,” said Silverdale Rotary Club member Chuck Kraining. “When the dictionaries arrive, we coordinate with our six schools to confirm numbers and set delivery times and dates.”
Typically, about four to six Rotary Club members volunteer in each school to talk about the club, distribute the dictionaries, and help show the students how to use them.
According to Rotary Club member Rich Arper, this year a teacher from Green Mountain Elementary recalled when she received her own dictionary in third grade. Her teacher had a custom to put a gold star next to the first word the students looked up in the dictionary, and this teacher continued this tradition in her class.
“In 2009 we were approached by the East Bremerton Rotary Club with a proposal to provide hardcover dictionaries to every third-grader in the Central Kitsap School District’s 12 elementary schools,” said Silverdale Rotary Club member Barbara Beagle. “Each club covers six CKSD elementary schools. Since supporting education is one of Rotary’s focus areas, we committed to the project, and each year we budget Silverdale Rotary Duck Race proceeds to cover the cost.”
Many individuals in Silverdale may have heard about or even been to Whaling Days, a traditional festival held at Silverdale every year. The Silverdale Rotary Duck Race is an event held at Whaling Days, where thousands of ducks get dropped in the water from the Waterfront Park boat ramp. This race is one of the Rotary Club’s biggest sources of income, and they give back the money they earned in the form of grants called “duck bucks”.
“The biggest way the community and other businesses can support the Rotary Club is through our Duck Race,” said Georgieva. “This is our biggest annual fundraiser that we hold every July. We sell tickets and raise money that goes back directly to the community with projects like the dictionaries.”
In order to support the Duck Race, and by extension the Rotary Club, one can purchase a duck for $5, or a Quack Pack of five ducks for $20. Each duck increases the chance of winning the duck race.
“Of all the projects we do, this is my favorite,” said Kraining. “The students are really excited to get the books and seem to enjoy looking through them. I know a couple of kids that still had them with them in their college dorm rooms.”
