Dolly Parton's Lesser Known Side Project

Dolly Parton is famous for her success as both an actress and country music singer. Another professional role of hers that many people are unaware of, however, is her active position in her community and others as a philanthropist.

Dolly Parton has always had a strong interest in reading books even at a young age. She is in acknowledgement of the great influence books can have in ones creative mind. She is also aware, though, that not everyone gets to find that out early enough in their lives. Parton recognizes that some families cannot afford to buy their kids books with their income. Parton has never been satisfied with leaving the kids of low income families behind so she created a program in attempt to give all kids equal access to at least one book or two by the time they begin school at an elementary institution.

The literacy promotion program is called the Imagination Library and was started in 1996 by Dolly Parton and the Dollywood Foundation. Any parent could sign the child up as long as they met the age requirements of preschool age through 5 years old. After signing up, kids would receive their first book, "The Little Engine That Could" in their mailbox and then another book once a month up through the last book, "Look out Kindergarten Here I Come".

The Imagination Library program started small, with Parton only allowing eligibility for kids in her Tennessee hometown area known as Sevier County. But soon word spread, interest grew, and the Dollywood Foundation branched out to a few other communities where Parton's businesses now operate. In no time, from funding directly from Parton's personal nonprofit, children in Branson Missouri and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina were also including in the distribution.

Any community can sign up to help orchestrate this literacy promotion project. It works as a joint collaboration between the Dollywood Foundation and the community. The communities are responsible for funding the books, the mailings, promoting the program and registering the kids. Dollywood Foundation then handles the mailing of the books.

For more information on how you can get your community involved in the Imagination Library program, visit Dolly's Imagination Library.

If you are interested in enrolling your child, go to the Affiliates Link on the Dolly's Imagination Library website, type in your zip code and see if your community is participating in the program.