Local support for Imagination Library grows

It takes a community to sponsor Dolly Parton's Imagination Library project, and Lincoln organizations are pulling together again to ensure kids throughout Lincoln have access to their own books.

The program mails a free book to kids every month from birth to age five. However, for kids in a community to have access to this resource, one or more organizations must sponsor the program, which costs about $2 per child per month.

When Annette Gardner heard about Imagination Library about eighteen months ago, she thought it would be a great fit for Lincoln. Around the same time, Sylvia Johnson reached out to Gardner about Imagination Library.

At the time, Lincoln didn't have a community sponsor, so Gardner and Johnson worked together to get the program started. They knew that no single organization in Lincoln could take on the full cost of the program. "

It's not excessive, but yeah, it's a commitment," Gardner said of the cost of the books. The then-PTSA signed on immediately to sponsor the program, as did the Lincoln Council for the Arts. Each organization contributed $300. Julie Zarske proposed asking Citizen's Alliance Bank and Lincoln Telephone, who both agreed and contributed $300 apiece. This initial funding got the program started and has been providing books for Lincoln children since then.

There are currently 33 kids receiving books, with ten who have graduated from the program, and three babies new in the community that Gardner hopes to register soon. With original funding running low, Gardner began approaching local organizations for additional funding. The original four sponsors were all happy to renew, said Gardner, and the Optimists Club and the Library signed on as full sponsors, with the Power House Gym contributing as a partial sponsor.

"There are so many good people in this town, and so many good organizations," said Gardner. "It's humbling."

Individuals and organizations interested in contributing to Lincoln's Imagination Library sponsorship can contact Gardner at 362-4547 or any member of the PTSO. Gardner is also the contact to register a child for the program. Kids must live in the Lincoln zip code to register and receive books. Gardner noted that the Lincoln Post Office also had to agree to the program because the books get mailed in a single package to the Post Office and then must be sorted there for kids.

Imagination Library started in 1995 when Dolly Parton sent about 1,700 books to kids in her home county in Tennessee. Today, more than one million books are sent to children each month. By December 2019, more than 130 million books had been provided to kids across the world. These books can help children become successful throughout their lives.

A 2011-2015 study published in Social Science Research demonstrates that when children grow up with a home library, it improves their skills as adults in literacy, numeracy, and technological problem solving. The study shows having 80 books in the home is the tipping point at which students' literacy skills excel. The Imagination Library equips kids with their own library of 60 books over the course of the program, setting them well on their way to success.