Fourth-grade students at Kennedy School received a personalized gift Wednesday morning from some special visitors.

“Reading is probably one of the most important things that kids can do,” said Dick Holzmeister, a member of the Lawrence Breakfast Optimist Club.

Holzmeister and some of his fellow optimists delivered about 40 dictionaries – personalized with each student’s name to the school, 1605 Davis Road. It’s the sixth year for the project, which provides about 900 dictionaries to every Lawrence and Eudora fourth-grade student.

The dictionaries also include the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and geographical information.

“It gives them a resource that they have right at their desk,” Holzmeister said.

To finance the project, the optimists raise about $1,500 annually by selling Christmas trees and having a pancake feed in November.

Lawrence school district leaders earlier this week touted schools’ relationships with businesses and organizations, through the Lawrence Education Achievement Partners.

School leaders said that last school year achievement partners logged 5,351 volunteer hours and financially contributed at least $62,711 to help schools with certain projects.

In-kind contributions – including the Lawrence Police Department providing school resource officers – totaled $654,131.

“It just shows that we have amazing community support for our Lawrence public schools,” said Susan Esau, executive director for LEAP. “People want to help and want to give and so do businesses, and they find different ways to do it.”