2016-09-01 Imagination Library
Verde Valley Rotary Clubs expand FREE book program for preschoolers By Linda Clark - RC of Sedona
All three Verde Valley Rotary Clubs are partnering to provide free books to preschoolers through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program. Children from birth to their fifth birthday living in the Verde Valley are eligible to receive a free, new, age-appropriate book each month mailed directly to their home.
The opportunity for a Verde Valley-wide program came this year when the Arizona Community Foundation of Sedona awarded the Rotary Club of Sedona a $25,000 grant to partially fund the first year of expansion.
The start-up funding prompted the Rotary Club of the Verde Valley and Rotary Club of Sedona Red Rocks to collaborate with Rotary Club of Sedona to register children and to help develop a plan for future funding. Libraries in Clarkdale, Cottonwood and Camp Verde have teamed up with the Sedona and Beaver Creek Libraries as the primary locations for parents to register children.
The clubs held registration events on Aug. 20 at libraries in Cottonwood, Camp Verde and Clarkdale to celebrate the expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
Dr. Jean Barton, chair of the Imagination Library Committee, said enrollment has doubled from 400 to 800 children since July 1. “Our goal is 1,500 children by June 2017, which is about half of our under five-year-old children living in the Verde Valley.”
Barton thanks District Governor Danny Messersmith for attending the events as well as Interact Club members from Mingus High School and Mountain View Preparatory, major funder Arizona Community Foundation of Sedona, representatives of First Things First, along with the children and their families.
The impetus for the club’s Imagination Library program is the realization that Arizona has one of the lowest literacy rates in the country. Barton adds, “We want to create awareness about the importance of parents talking, singing and reading to their children every day starting in infancy and making sure all families have engaging books in the home.”
Barton said the program’s quick start is due to community partners helping to spread the word including First Things First, Verde Valley Medical Center, Yavapai Community Health, Healthy Families AZ, Woman Infants and Children, Head Start, Buena Vista Children’s Services, area daycare facilities, preschools, churches, banks and word of mouth from happy parents.
In addition to expansion funds, Rotary Club of Sedona previously received a $2,100 grant in 2015 and a $3,000 grant this year from District 5490. David Simmer, past Imagination Library Chair and currently Assistant Governor, Area 6 of District 5490, said the club’s Imagination Library program has been endorsed by Rotary International, with encouragement for every club to get involved in the program.
Barton adds that $30 pays for one child to receive a book in the mail every month for one year. “Every donation counts! Consider it a scholarship for our youngest students. The more words and stories babies hear, the more they learn.”