The program is part of a national Elks initiative "to
put dictionaries in the hands of every child in the country," said Anne
Leetch, a past "exalted ruler" of Lodge #915.

With the absence
of an Elks Lodge in Somerville, many Somerville residents are members
of Lodge #915, Leetch said. "That's why we decided to do Somerville,"
she said. "There was a connection."

The Medford Rotary Club provided dictionaries to Medford third graders this month.

Leetch,
incoming Exalted Ruler Warren D. Costa, and two other Elks members
handed out dictionaries to third-graders at the Argenziano School on
Thursday. Many students pressed the cold, brand new books to their
faces and flipped through the pages.

"Oh this is good! It tells you what it means!" exclaimed one student, sitting Indian-style on the floor.

Leetch led the group of 43 students through a hunt for new words, such as benevolent, jovial and putrid.

Then the quest turned to the information pages in the back.

"Who can find what the Massachusetts state flower is?" she asked.

After a few minutes of searching, Leetch finally revealed the answer: "The mayflower."

"That's the name of the ship the pilgrims came in on!" shouted Faisal Maniar, a bright-eyed, outspoken student sitting up front.

He later said he was happy to finally have a dictionary: "For seven years I didn't have one."

Throughout the program's three years, Leetch said the response has been positive.

"[The students] love that it's theirs and that they get to keep it-take it home," she said.

In today's technology age, Leetch said it was increasingly important for children to experience books.

"Kids
today do everything on the computer," she said. "It's important to give
them a book they can hold and realize that books are important too."