President Dan along with Kim, have been researching a program called the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, with the intent of asking the club to consider taking it on as a local project.
Kim introduced the program to club members, explaining that it is a program that sends free books to young children, age 0-5, once a month. The books are sent directly to each child so the children can look forward to receiving them in the mail, and that they also understand that the books are theirs. Children who are enrolled in the program at birth receive at total of 60 books.
Kim asked that we watch a short video about the project which can be viewed here.
Kim then walked us through a slideshow describing the program. Highlights are as follows.
- The Dolly Parton Imagination Library was created in 1995, and while it started in a local county in Tennessee, it has now grown throughout the US, Canada and the UK.
- The program currently sends out over 1.5 Million, high-quality books every month, and since the start of the program has delivered over 167 Million books.
- In Canada, there are 300 community partnerships in 10 provinces and three territories.
- The books are paid for by the local partner at $3.55 per child per month, while the Dolly Parton Foundation pays for all the overhead, employee salaries etc.
- All of the local funding goes towards the books and delivery
- By providing books to children, the child's interest in reading is increased, parents read more to their children, and the children are better prepared for school.
- The books being delivered directly to the child at their home creates an "event" that the children look forward to. It also promotes sharing and interaction and helps to promote a connection between the child and the caregiver(s) other family members and siblings, strengthening the home environment.
- Books are high quality, age-specific and selected by a committee of specialists. In 2020 42/60 were Canadian titles.
- Local partners, like Rotary are responsible for raising funds to support the program. While the program should be open to everyone regardless of income class, the sponsoring club can place limits on the number of participants. It is possible to start a pilot program.
- Information collected about the child (Name, Address and Birth date) is stored in a secure database provided by the Dolly Parton Foundation.
- There is typically a 60% enrollment rate, so if there are 1000 children in the community, approximately 600 will participate.
- 600 participants represents a commitment of about $25,560 per year.
Kim and Dan will be discussing this project at the next Board Meeting. If they receive the support from the board, they will bring it back to the club asking for approval to initiate a local project.
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