State Farm agent George Smith (right) presents a check to Rotary treasurer Jim McKee.

May 22, 2007

George P. Smith, Jr., a Teays Valley agent for State Farm Insurance, continued his company's charitable support through Rotary for a better community with a gift of $500.

Smith today presented a check for the grant award to support the "Dictionary Project" in Putnam County.

The idea for the national Dictionary Project began in 1992 when Annie Plummer of Savannah, Georgia, gave 50 dictionaries to children who attended a school close to her home.

But she didn’t stop there. In her lifetime she raised the money to buy 17,000 dictionaries for children in the city.

Over 2.3 million dictionaries have been distributed through the national project, nearly two million in 2006 alone.

Putnam Rotary began supporting the Dictionary Project two years ago with a gift to Putnam Literacy Volunteers. Last year, the club donated thesaurus copies to sixth-grade students in the public middle schools of the county.

In addition to Smith, State Farm's regional director Herman Dixon and agent Tom Midkiff are active in Putnam Rotary. Dixon has been named a Paul Harris Fellow for his support of Rotary Foundation.