Sparking imagination

If you can read, you can learn anything. 

That’s the mindset behind Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which is available locally through affiliate Jay County REMC.

That’s also the reasoning behind why the State of Indiana is matching funds toward the program aimed at placing literature in the hands of young children.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has gifted more than 220 million books — more than 2 million monthly — to children across the world in the last 28 years. As of Sept. 1, for the next two years Imagination Library affiliates in Indiana only pay 50% of their local program cost, with the other half matched by the state.

The program is regularly funded by grants or donations and comes at no cost to families. Jay County’s affiliate group alone has helped send more than 12,000 free books to children in the community.

How it started

Award-winning entertainer Dolly Parton started the Imagination Library in 1995 for children in her eastern Tennessee home county.

In a video posted on the organization’s Youtube page in July, Parton talked about her inspiration behind starting the cause.

“Before he passed away, my daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important that I had ever done,” she said. “That’s saying a lot, and I can’t tell you how much that means to me because I created the Imagination Library as a tribute to my daddy. Now he was one of the wisest men I’ve ever known, but I knew in my heart this inability to read probably kept him from seeing all his dreams come true.

“So inspiring kids to love to read became my passion, and my mission, because if you can read, you can teach yourself anything,” she continued.

When Carly Nichols started in her role as marketing and communications coordinator at Jay County REMC in 2020, she began looking into community outreach and children’s programs. After a book landed in her hands one day, she thought of her then 5-year-old son and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. She reached out to the organization to get the process started for Jay County.

The local cooperative joined Imagination Library as a partner in August 2021, with the first books — more than 300 for Jay County at that time — sent out two months later.

“Parents knew about this program, they were just waiting on the edge of their seats for it to happen in Jay County,” said Nichols.

How it works

Infants through 5-year-old children may receive free monthly books in the mail from Imagination Library.

“They can be on it from birth — literal birth,” said Nichols. “You can call me from the hospital if you’re holding a baby in your arms and have a date of birth, up until the day they turn 5. So it’s going to continue to have active kids on it.”

Each child’s first book regardless of their age starting the program is “The Little Engine That Could” by Watty Piper.

From there, the program tailors books to children based on their age. Nichols said they seem to rotate and bring in new literature regularly.

Jay County REMC is an affiliate of Imagination Library, handling registration and fundraising for the program. (Because REMC isn’t a nonprofit organization, the funds are handled through a partnership with United Way of Jay County.) Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library works with publishing houses and controls the shipping and planning which books go to which children.

“It’s really a well-oiled machine,” Nichols said.

In the last few years, the local program has received grants from The Portland Foundation to keep it running. Doug Inman, president of The Portland Foundation, advocated for Imagination Library, saying plans are to continue supporting it in the future.

“It puts books in the hands of children,” said Inman. “What better tool to give a child for their development and growth than to give them a book?”

Three of those children receiving books are Lake, Summer and Knox Willmann of Jay County.

“We had to buy another bookshelf,” said mother Ashley Willmann with a laugh.

Ashley Willmann started her now 6-year-old son, Lake, on the program about two years back. Although he’s now aged out, his siblings, 2-year-old Summer and 1-year-old Knox, started receiving books at birth.

Titles vary, generally focusing on engaging readers through interactive learning or talking about real-world content, such as farming. (Their father, Michael Willmann, is a farmer.)

Each month, the Willmanns receive their books in the mail. Books come shrink-wrapped with a shipping label stating their name on it.

Now in first grade, Lake Willmann often reads to his brother and sister. Getting new books in the mail each month is helping her children to learn how to read, noted Ashley Willmann.

And once Summer and Knox Willmann age out of the program, they will each have amassed 60 free books from Imagination Library.

“There’s literally no reason not to do it,” said Willmann.

Imagination Library aims to place a new book monthly into the hands of children younger than 5-years-old. Pictured, from left, are 6-year-old Lake Willmann, 1-year-old Knox Willmann and 2-year-old Summer Willmann sitting in front of a handful of books from their library. (The Commercial Review/Bailey Cline)

 

How it’s going

After 28 years, Imagination Library now reaches five countries — it started in Canada in 2006, the United Kingdom in 2007, Australia in 2014 and the Republic of Ireland in 2019 — and gifts more than 2 million books monthly to children across the globe. According to the program’s website, 1 in 10 children younger than 5-years-old in the United States receive age-appropriate books from Imagination Library.

Parton credited most of the organization’s success to the communities involved.

“The real heroes of our story are the thousands of local partners and organizations who have embraced my dream and made it their own,” she said in the July YouTube video. “They raise millions of dollars each year and wake up every day with a passion to make sure the children in their communities have every opportunity to succeed.”

Indiana State Library started coordinating state matching funds in September and providing money to partner organizations hoping to expand into other counties. The $6 million effort comes as a part of Gov. Eric Holcomb’s 2023 Next Level Agenda, appropriating $2 million in the first year and $4 million in the second year of Indiana’s biennial budget cycle to establish the program statewide. It’s tied in with other state initiatives focused on improving literacy rates for Indiana’s youth, including covering textbook costs for families and strengthening early child care and education.

“I learned from a very young age that reading is the key to education and opportunity,” Holcomb said in an August press release. “The ability to read can transport children to places they have never been before and open doors they never knew existed. By making Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library available in every zip code, we are giving Hoosier children the tools they need for literary success.”

According to the release, the program at that time was available in 54 counties and partially available in eight other counties. 

Blackford, Delaware, Fayette, Grant, Henry, Jay, Randolph, Rush and Wayne counties currently have a partnership with Imagination Library.

“Not every county in the United States of America has an affiliate, but you know, that’s their goal,” said Nichols.

How to join

Parton encouraged individuals to get involved in the program.

“Imagine a world where every child, regardless of their background, was surrounded with books, stories and a love for reading,” she said in her YouTube video.

Applications are available at Jay County REMC and Jay County Public Library. Parents or guardians can also visit imaginationlibrary.com to complete registration online or call Jay County REMC at (260) 726-7121.

Nichols pointed out sponsorships are available to businesses or organizations interested in supporting the cause. The fundraising effort has a tiered system with one-month, six-month or one-year sponsorships available and has perks at different levels, including the group’s name printed on mailing labels applied to all books sent out locally.

“We want to keep this program as long as we can,” Nichols said. “We don’t intend to see this ever go away. There’s always going to be new kids every year being born that are going to be put on the program.”