The Kiwanis Club of Botetourt has announced the launch of Dolly Parton Imagination Library in Botetourt County. Each month the Imagination Library program mails a high-quality, age-appropriate book to registered children, beginning from birth to their fifth birthday, addressed to them, at no cost to the child’s family.
Since launching in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has become the preeminent early childhood book-gifting program in the world and has gifted over 200 million free books. The program has been widely researched and results demonstrate the positive impact on early childhood development and literacy skills.
Kiwanis Club President John Plenge said, “We are extremely fortunate to have the early support for the program start-up from Craig-Botetourt Electric Cooperative and Altec/Styslinger Foundation. This will enable us to quickly begin the program including child registrations. Additionally, the current Virginia state budget covers 50% of the book cost.”
The Kiwanis Club of Botetourt County Charitable Foundation is the local nonprofit entity partnering with The Dollywood Foundation to raise funds, market, and administer the program locally. As the Local Program Partner, the club will provide outreach and information events throughout the summer and fall.
“We hope to enroll approximately 1000 children through this registration campaign which will begin a 5-year reading program for each enrolled child., Plenge continued. “There is no cost to the families; however, as the Local Program Partner we must raise funds to cover our local share of the program cost. To ensure we can sustain this book-gifting program, we will need additional support from sponsors and individuals to cover our local share of the program cost going forward.”
For the registration campaign, the Kiwanis Club is seeking venues in the community to provide additional information and registration instructions. If your organization is interested in participating in this outreach effort, whether it be sharing registration applications or hosting an information session, contact Plenge, jwesleyplenge@icloud.com, or through the Kiwanis Facebook or Webpage. For more information about the program, visit imaginationlibrary.com.
An information session will be held on June 26 at the Troutville Town Hall at 6 p.m.
~ Fincastle Herald staff report
Cheryl Lunsford, The Guitar Dojo will gladly present an all “Dolly” songs evening, 473dojo! What a great event that would be!