Thanks to her philanthropic interests, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has led to Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio to declare August 9 honorary Dolly Parton Day.
The superstar singer/songwriter will visit Columbus, Ohio for a luncheon with the state’s First Lady Fran DeWine to celebrate and promote the Imagination Library book gifting program that mails free books to children under the age of five, independent of the family’s income.
According to the Imagination Library website, the program started in 1995 in Parton’s hometown of Sevier County, Tennessee and has expanded on a national and global level. Once the program found success in the United States, the initiative launched in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and most recently in the Republic of Ireland, where the program launched in 2019.
During its many years of operation, the program has reached a myriad of milestones including audio and braille books (2011,) in 2016 the library started to send out one million books every month, and in 2020, the library gifted its 150 millionth book.
As of now, more than two million total children registered for the program and over 186 million books have been gifted to children throughout the world.
According to a statement from the governor’s office, the library mails over 327,000 books every month to kids in Ohio.
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: Leeann Cafferata