Valley Grange delivers dictionaries to Brownville Elementary School students

BROWNVILLE, Maine (WABI) - Thousands upon thousands of words are now in the hands of third graders at Brownville Elementary School.

Members of the Valley Grange delivered dictionaries to students Wednesday as part of its Words for Thirds program.

This is the twentieth year for dictionary day events like this.

Last year, COVID concerns cancelled the chance for the grange members to hand over the books in-person.

Wednesday they came up with a safe option for the students to flip through their new books and ask questions.

Walter Boomsma is the director of the Valley Grange programs.

He says thanks to the help of another group, the Blistered Finger Knitters, Wednesday’s donation didn’t stop at dictionaries.

“We provide a bag, just as we did today in Brownville, a bag of hats and mittens that the school nurse typically takes. Then they get to distribute to kids on an as-needed basis,” said Boomsma.

Boomsma says they’d like to do the same with socks - another item they have found some kids come to school without.

In the past two decades, Grange members have given out close to 3,000 dictionaries

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