Rotary Club members prepare dictionaries for area Dunklin County schools

After their regular weekly meeting on Thursday morning at the D&R McCormick’s Steak House, Rotary members stayed to put labels on dictionaries that they distribute each year to area Dunklin County schools. According to the club, Rotary is about literacy, and the dictionary distribution project is one of many that they have been doing since 2000 when it was originally started by the late Dr. Bob Lamb, Rotary member.

The labels that are placed on the front of the dictionary reveal the Rotary’s four-way test, which is what Rotarians live by: 1. Is it the truth? 2. Is it fair to all concerned? 3. Will build good will and better friendships? And 4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

They believe that if a person lives by this simple test, they will go far and succeed. Treat everyone according to the motto, and the world will be a better place. At the bottom of the dictionary is the inscription: “Knowledge is power,” by Francis Bacon, 1626. According to Rotary members, the more you read the better you will be.

Dunklin County Kennett Librarian Julie Orf was a guest and presented the program on Thursday during the meeting. She updated the club on the different programs and upcoming events at the library. One such program was the 70273 Quilt Project, which is one close to her heart.

The 70273 stands for the 70,273 people of all ages, who were physically and mentally disabled, that were murdered by the Nazis between January 1940 and August 1941. These people were deemed either “unfit,” “an economic burden on society,” or a “useless eater.” A red “X” was placed on a chart by a doctor who examined these people, and if a second “X” was placed on the chart by a second physician, then that individual was euthanized within hours. “The red “X” literally sealed their fate,” said Orf. “So, we are taking part in the project that commemorates those who died during this time.” She said that the 70,273 quilt blocks of white fabric represented innocence and the paper the doctors read, and each block bearing two red “X’s” represented one person and the death sentence. The blocks will be stitched together with blocks from around the world to make as many as 1200 quilts that will travel all over the world, commemorating the disabled who died and celebrating those with special needs who live today. The quilts are important and act as a visual to educate the public on the atrocity known as Aktion T4 and the often under estimated goodness and abilities of those with special needs.

Orf also writes a column for the Dunklin Democrat each weekend and her story about Aktion T4 can be read in the September 12, Tuesday edition of the Dunklin Democrat. To participate in the project or for more information contact the Dunklin County Library in Kennett.