03/03/2026
"Oh, The Places You’ll Go" and the magical promise that "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose."
But here's what Rotary knows that Dr. Seuss knew too: those brains? They need a head start. And those feet? They need solid ground beneath them — before kindergarten ever begins.
Right here in Tacoma, in one zip code, 147 children — birth to age five — have that ground, because Tacoma South Rotary helps pay for it.
Through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a book arrives in their mailbox every single month. Not a hand-me-down. Not a library copy. Their book. With their name on it. From someone who believes in them.
Research tells us that children who are read to regularly start school with a vocabulary of thousands more words than those who aren't. That gap, if it isn't closed early, can follow a child for life.
We close it. One book at a time. One child at a time. One zip code at a time.
So today, on Dr. Seuss's birthday, let's celebrate what we already know: Service Above Self isn't just a motto. Sometimes, it looks exactly like a picture book landing in a mailbox — and a little one, not yet in school, learning that someone out there thinks they matter.
Because they do. And so does what we do.
Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss — and thank you, Rotary.
