Gift from the Tomlinson Charitable Trust Allows Expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to Mount Pulaski Children

 

[April 12, 2021]   Thanks to a generous grant from the Tomlinson Charitable Trust designated to fund the Mount Pulaski program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is now available to children from birth up to age 5 that reside in Mount Pulaski. Parents may register their preschoolers for the program at https://tinyurl.com/yaja3k4u.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is a program that mails free books each month to registered children from birth to age five in participating communities within the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Republic of Ireland.

Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, Dolly started her Imagination Library in 1995 for the children within her home county. Today, her program spans four countries and mails over 1 million free books each month to children around the world. The purpose of this program is to provide books in the home to encourage a love of books, reading and learning and positively affect school readiness. According to the National Commission on Reading, “The single most significant factor influencing a child’s early educational success is an introduction to books and being read to at home prior to beginning school.”

Early in 2020, The United Way of Logan County and the Hartsburg-Emden School District partnered to bring The Imagination Library to Hartsburg-Emden children. A grant was received from the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation allowing this launch.

Since that time, community businesses and individuals from all over Logan County have supported the program, allowing its growth to Beason, Broadwell, Chestnut, Cornland, Elkhart, Latham, Middletown, New Holland and now Mount Pulaski. Find our list of generous supporters at https://www.uwlogan
countyil.org/dolly-parton-imagination
-library-supporters.  This support has allowed growth from 29 children receiving books last summer, to 62 at this time with 17 having graduated (reached the age of 5).

Parents that would like to register their preschoolers (age 0 up to age 5) that live in any of the communities listed above may register them online at https://
tinyurl.com/yaja3k4u or contact the United Way of Logan County at 217-735-4499 or [e-mail]

Anyone that would like to sponsor a Logan County child for a year at $25, or multiple children, please donate at https://www.uwlogancountyil.org
/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=21  Checks may also be mailed to United Way of Logan County P.O. Box 684 Lincoln IL 62656.

All donations to this program will be designated to this program and will not affect the United Way of Logan County’s other grant programs to local non-profit agencies.

[Text provided by Patti Becker]