Dr. Jeanne Mather, with Friends of the Chickasha Public Library, discussed the library's partnership with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which makes free books available to young children.The September 29, 2022 meeting of the Rotary Club of Chickasha was called to order by President Lewis Knisley. Rot. Mitch WIlliams led the club in singing "9 to 5".
At the start of the meeting, Pres. Knisley presented a $1,000 check to Asst. Police Chief G.G. Music for the Shop With A Cop program. The donation money comes from Rotary fines and meals for the 2022-23 year.
Afterwards, Pres. Knisley delivered announcements:
- Trivia Night - The next Trivia Night will be held October 14th at the Jungle Ice Fun Zone. The theme will be Halloween.
- Clothes Closet - The Clothes Closet funded by Rotary at Bill Wallace Early Childhood Center should be ready to open by October 20. The Rotary meeting for that day may be moved to Bill Wallace and members are encouraged to help with setup.
After announcements, Pres. Knisley presented a grant check for $1,000 to Dr. Jeanne Mather on behalf of Friends of the Library. The donation will go towards the local administration of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
Finally, the Rotary club inducted a new member: JP Audas, from the USAO Foundation. JP's membership was sponsored by President-Elect Jim Cowan. As Cowan was absent, Rot. Gerron Smith stood in for the induction ceremony.
Rotarian of the Day Brad Duvall introduced his speaker, Dr. Jeanne Mather. Dr. Mather was formerly a faculty member at Science & Arts, but has also taught in Chickasha Public Schools. She is currently involved with Friends of the Chickasha Public Library, particularly the long-running Books for Tots program. This program coincides with a new program the library will be offering in partnership with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
Since launching in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has become the premier early childhood book gifting program in the world by mailing well over 90 million free books in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States. Currently, the program mails over one million specially selected, age-appropriate books monthly to registered children from birth to age five. Dolly’s vision was to create a lifelong love of reading, prepare children for school and inspire them to dream. Recent studies suggest participation in the Imagination Library program is positively and significantly associated with higher measures of early language and math development. Penguin Random House is the exclusive publisher for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
Registration will be available at the Rock Island Arts Festival starting Friday, Sept. 30, and online the next day at https://imaginationlibrary.com/. The books are provided entirely free to children up to age 5 in Grady County. DPIL manages the administrative costs of the program while local partners oversee the shipping and distribution. The Oklahoma State Dept. of Education covers half the local costs associated with DPIL. If 15% of eligible children in Grady County are registered, the estimated cost is $4,000. If 30% are registered, the cost would be over $8,000, and if the goal of 60% is met then costs would total around $17,000.
Dr. Mather stressed that pre-literacy is crucial to success in school from the very beginning. Children who lack literacy skills entering school will be far behind their peers and it is very difficult to make up ground, and approximately 47% of kindergarteners are affected. Remedial reading scores correlate to poverty and incarceration in adulthood. Children raised in poverty are especially vulnerable to reduced literacy skills. On the flip side, by age 2, children who are read to or who have access to books have better cognitive function, vocabulary, and general language comprehension.
While the program is especially intended for low-income families, the program does not have any income requirements and any child up to age 5 can be registered. Each child receives one book each month in their name.
To conclude her presentation, Dr. Mather read the children's book Nubs to members.
Catering of the meeting was provided by Rock Island Grill.