Jamestown ND – Imagination Library funding nationally is running low, which includes the Stutsman County program, reports Bob Toso, Stutsman coordinator.

Generous donations, and funding will continue to encourage new enroll of children. Governor Burgum is even donating to the cause. By paying half of the billing for Imagination Library each month, that comes to $650 dollars per month for Stutsman County.

The United Way increased their gift to our program, so Imagination Library is in good financially for the future,” Toso said. “Thanks to everyone who gave so generously so that children could get free books every month.”

September is a world wide celebration, Imagination Library will be giving out its 200 million book that month. Parents are asked to check their child’s books for a special bookmark that indicates your child is a winner. Among the prizes are three tickets to Dollywood Park in Nashville.

The Imagination Library is a free children’s book gifting program started by Dolly Parton in 1995. It is based at her Dollywood theme park near Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The program started by offering every child in Sevier County, Tennessee, the area where Parton was born and raised, a free age-appropriate book each month in the mail until the age of five, regardless of family income. In 2000, the Imagination Library became so popular that Dolly announced that she wanted to make the program available to any community that would partner with her and support it locally. The program has since expanded to over 1,800 local communities in the US, Canada, Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The program can be implemented in other communities by private or public non-profit organizations, and the Foundation is responsible for the distribution of books in those participating communities and the database that manages the children’s information. In 2018, Parton celebrated the delivery of the 100 millionth book since the inception of the program. The Library of Congress hosted an event in February 2018 commemorating the milestone with Parton holding a Story Time to children attending the event. The Imagination Library program currently sends roughly 1.3 million books to children every month. As of 2021, at least 1.7 million children in the U.S. are enrolled, with a net monthly increase of 20,000 to 30,000 children. The program has drastically improved literacy for the children enrolled.

The Dollywood Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Dolly Parton, with headquarters in Sevierville, Tennessee (as of 2022). Shortly after the opening of the Dollywood theme park in 1986, the Dollywood Foundation was created in April 1988, and began by offering scholarships to local high school students. From there it grew into the Imagination Library, started in 1995, which distributes free books to children monthly, up until the age of 5. The Dollywood Foundation grew again into the My People Fund, which started in 2016 after wildfires ripped through Tennessee. The current President of the Dollywood Company is Craig Ross. Today, the foundation continues to grant scholarships and awards, and provides support to numerous non-profit organizations that aim to improve the quality of life of children and others in need.