LEWISTON – The Lewiston Elks Lodge 371 has donated more than 500 dictionaries to the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department’s “Officer Friendly” and the drug awareness program.

The dictionaries will be given to third-grade students so that they may have a better understanding of how to look up words and their definitions and improve their vocabulary.

The goal of the program is to assist those students to become good writers, active readers and creative thinkers by providing them with their own personal dictionary.

Nationwide, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks has distributed in excess of 3 million dictionaries.

The Maine Elks Association consists of more than 12,000 members in 22 lodges. The organization provides programs that support youth and veterans and promotes patriotism and charity. For more information on the Elks, visit elks.org, or the Maine Elks Association, maineelks.org.