Groups were key to starting reading program at library
By Bruce Rolfe
A reading program that was started at the Lawrence Memorial Public Library in 2020 through a generous gift from two local groups, continues to grow today.
Charitable gifts from the Climax Rotary Club and The Friends of the Lawrence Memorial Public Library helped the local library start and continue the Dolly Parton Imagination Library reading program from 2020 to the spring of 2023 when the district library millage was approved by voters.
The Climax Rotary Club’s gift, and financial support from the Friends of the Lawrence Memorial Public Library for the sign-up card program, provided funding for 32 children to be enrolled in the program. The Rotary Club’s gift was in memory of former Climax-Scotts Superintendent, Dr. Geoffrey Balkam, who is remembered by the community and students for reading to elementary students while dressed up as the “Cat-in-the-hat.”
The Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a program that provides free books to children from birth to age 5. Children enrolled in the program will receive a book each month.
When the library became a district library after the millage was approved by voters, the Library Board appropriated $1000 to the program. Library Director Bill Lewis said the Library Board appropriated $400 this year from the library millage and a total of $1200 for new children to enroll in the Dolly Imagination Library reading program. The Dolly Parton Imagination Library holds the funds and the account is monitored when new children are enrolled in the program. Any money left over at the end of the budget year is carried over to the next year’s fiscal budget to enroll more children into the program.
Lewis said currently there are 40 active children in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library reading program. He said 26 children, who have reached the age of five, have graduated from the program. He adds eight additional children who were enrolled in the Lawrence Memorial District Library Dolly Parton program that have moved out of the district, have been transferred to other libraries, meaning the program has had a positive impact on 74 children in the library district since the program started.
“We’ve had very good feedback from the people we serve,” said Lewis.
Children in the Lawrence Memorial Library District are eligible to participate in the program. Lewis adds Lawrence Memorial District Library is considered a card library with in house sign up only.
“We would love to have more kids. We will find the funds because we do have spare money we can put to this,” said Lewis.
Filling out forms at the library is all it takes to enroll a child. There is a verification process through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to make sure the child resides within the Lawrence Memorial District Library district and the postal address matches the parents address.
“Without our Rotary and our local (Friends of the Library) organization we would not have had this, because this came in at a point where we did not have the money we have now. Luckily, we were blessed. I was hoping when I started, was to get a few dollars here and a few dollars there to build up to where we could get the program going. I was looking for any grants I could get, any money I could get. I came to Rotary and they were able to help fulfill that need for us and right now we have looked at it like we have fulfilled the need for the community’s kids,” said the library director.
The Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a program that provides free books to children from birth to age 5. In 1995, Dolly Parton launched an exciting new effort, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, to benefit the children of her home county in East Tennessee. Dolly’s vision was to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families. The new program gave each child a specially selected book each month. By mailing high quality, age appropriate books directly to their homes, Dolly wanted children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create.
Moreover, she could ensure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income.
Since its launch, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has set and surpassed many goals and milestones. National replication, which started in 2000, allowed more and more communities to adopt the program. State-wide coverage was established in Tennessee in 2004. Furthermore, international growth provided expansion in Canada (2006), United Kingdom (2007) and Australia (2014).
The first book order in 1995 totaled just over 1,700. Today, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library sends more than one million books per month to children around the world inspiring them to Dream More, Learn More, Care More and Be More.
According to the Dolly Parton Imagination website, 3,112,763 kids have registered and 251,386,641 books have been gifted.
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