Madison Rotary Organizes Food Drive, Donates Dictionaries to Local Third Graders

The Madison Rotary Club has been very busy this fall, as members work hard to give back to those in need by volunteering at a local food pantry, and distributing dictionaries to Madison third graders.

Action Against Hunger Campaign

The Rotary’s Action Against Hunger Campaign took place on Oct. 5 at the Chatham Shoprite. The Rotary Clubs of Madison and Chatham/Millburn/Short Hills volunteered to collect food donations from the

Shoprite customers and deliver over 100 bags of groceries to the Interfaith Food Pantry in Morristown that same day.

Marybeth Cooney, Jack Higgins, Hal Moeller, Ruth Higgins, and Linda Kostrowski were among those who helped bag the groceries before transporting them to the pantry.

Madison Rotary Distributes Annual Dictionary Project

As part of their ongoing Literacy Program, the Madison Rotary delivered free dictionaries/gazetteers to all 245 Third Graders in the Madison Public Schools, as well as St. Vincent Martyr School during the last two weeks of October. This endeavor is part of the Club’s Annual Dictionary Project.

The 524-page dictionary/gazetteer contains maps and almanac type facts. Each book was personalized with the student’s name on a Rotary bookplate on the inside front cover.

The goal of the project is to assist the students in completing their school year as good writers and creative thinkers by expanding their vocabularies and reading skills. The project was chaired by Rotarian Mary Beth Cooney.”

Pictured in the front row from left: students Ian Artavia, Brandon Detgen, Gabriella Gorka, and Charlie Kaye pose with their new dictionaries alongside the Rotarians.

Pictured in the rear row from left: Rotarians Mary Beth Cooney, Marianne McConnell, Brigitte Richter-Hajduk, Cathie Coultas, John Hoover, Fran Ryan, Nancy Adamczyk, and Joe Smith pose with third graders at Madison’s Central Avenue School.