Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in BC
Humanitarian, philanthropist, songwriter, actor, and country music icon Dolly Parton has passed away, and her immeasurable legacy lives on. Her family shared the news on her social media channels along with a statement that says in lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a program that has gifted over 300,000,000 books to children all over the world.
The concept is that the program will mail one free, high-quality, age-appropriate book every month to registered children from birth until their fifth birthday at no cost to their families.
“After launching in 1995, the program grew quickly. First books were only distributed to children living in Sevier County, Tennessee where Dolly grew up. It became such a success that in 2000 a national replication effort was underway. By 2003, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library had mailed one million books. It would prove to be the first of many millions of books sent to children around the world.
Dolly’s home state of Tennessee pledged to pursue statewide coverage in 2004 and global expansion was on the horizon. After the United States, the program launched in Canada in 2006 followed by the United Kingdom in 2007, Australia in 2013 and the Republic of Ireland in 2019.”
If you would like to register a child, you can search for an available program in your area.
To find or support a partner program in BC, you can donate to the Imagination Library Canada or visit the website and search the dropdown menu for a region to find a local organization such as:
- Sea to Sky Community Services
- Sources BC (Surrey)
- Sunshine Coast School District
- Cariboo Chilcotin Child Development Centre Association
- Métis Nation BC
- Literacy Alliance of the Shuswap Society
- Imagination Library Fraser Valley
- Canadian Forces Morale & Welfare Services
- Hope and Area Imagination Library
There are also many First Nations and Indigenous organizations that participate in the program.
“Before he passed away, my Daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I had ever done. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me because I created the Imagination Library as a tribute to my Daddy. He was the smartest man I have ever known but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams. Inspiring kids to love to read became my mission. In the beginning, my hope was simply to inspire the children in my home county but here we are today with a worldwide program that gives a book a month to well over 3 million children.”
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