United Way of Guernsey, Monroe, and Noble Counties’ Women’s Initiative took up the challenge of making sure every child is prepared for kindergarten several years ago when it launched the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program. Since that initial launch, over 200 local children have received the gift of literacy on a monthly basis. We are creating a home library of up to 60 books and instilling a love of books and reading from an early age for each child participating in our program. We are investing in our most vulnerable and valuable resource—our children! In addition, Women’s Initiative volunteers and local community volunteers have spent countless hours in preschools, elementary schools and during community events reading to children and giving away books.
The Concept of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library (DPIL) is simple but has a far reaching, life changing impact—to provide quality, age-appropriate books to children from birth through age five. It was Dolly’s vision and is now ours “to foster a love of reading among preschool children and their families by providing them with the gift of a specially selected book each month. We want children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create.