O&R, Spring Valley Rotary Share the Power of Words; Donate 744 Dictionaries to East Ramapo Schools’ 3rd Graders
The Spring Valley Rotary Club, O&R and the Schools to End Poverty (S.T.E.P.) foundation presented 744 dictionaries to third-grade students in each of the East Ramapo School District’s five elementary schools last week.
Over the12 years of the program, the Rotary Club, O&R and S.T.E.P. have partnered to donate 9,576 dictionaries to third graders at: Summit Park, Hempstead, Margetts, Fleetwood and Grandview elementary schools.
“Wow, that is an incredible number,” said Neil Winter, O&R’s Director of Regional & Community Affairs and a Spring Valley Rotarian. He said that one of the students who received the dictionary told his teacher that he was going to learn all the words in the dictionary in one day. After consulting with another school mate, he changed his minds and decided it would take five days instead.
Spring Valley Rotarians delivered dictionaries to third graders at the Summit Park school last week. That delivery was part of the annual donation by the Rotary, O&R and the S.T.E.P. Foundation to third graders at five schools in the East Ramapo School District. Pictured here in the back row, all Rotarians, are Mike Smith, East Ramapo Director of Fine and Performing Arts, S.T.E.P. Foundation founder Ed Frank, O&R Regional & Community Affairs Director Neil Winter and Christian Sampson. The third graders are: Ashley, Jamal, Braden, Jaden and Eskima.
The program was coordinated through Spring Valley Rotarian and S.T.E.P. Co-Founder Ed Frank.
“We are thrilled that O&R provided a grant of over $2,600 to cover the entire cost of this year’s program. That really shows the company’s commitment to helping our children succeed in school,” Ed said. He added, “Next year, we will distribute our 10,000th dictionary. I never imagined that would be possible when we started,” said the proud program coordinator.
Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. (O&R) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies. O&R is a regulated utility that provides electric service to approximately 300,000 customers in southeastern New York State (where its franchise name is Orange & Rockland) and northern New Jersey (where it’s Rockland Electric Company), and natural gas service to approximately 130,000 customers in New York.