For Immediate Release

For more information, contact:

Kimberly Tucker

(870) 793-5991

United Way of North Central Arkansas

Kay Shipman - (870) 269-3104

Carrie Futrell - (870) 269-9706

Mountain View School Elementary

NEWS RELEASE

Stone County Launches Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Program

MOUNTAIN VIEW – Beginning October 15, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

will be available to all children, ages 0 to 5, in Stone County. Parents and guardians can register their children at the Mountain View Elementary School’s Literacy Night on Tuesday, October 15, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. All children enrolled will receive high-quality, age-appropriate books in the mail – one book per month until a child’s fifth birthday – at no cost to families.

United Way of North Central Arkansas is the affiliate champion for Stone County Imagination Library as well as Imagination Library programs in Cleburne, Independence, Izard and Sharp Counties. The program is also supported by Mountain View School District, Stone County Medical Center, Centennial Bank-Mountain View, First Security Bank-Mountain View, Bessie Boehm Moore Stone County Library, Rural Educational Heritage Inc., and Stone County Judge Stacey Avey.

Through a state-wide partnership with First Security Bank and Arkansas Imagination Library, Stone County families can enroll in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at First Security Bank – Mountain View. First Security Bank will fund the first year in the program for each child enrolled at First Security Bank branches.

Since 2014, with funding from Rural Educational Heritage Inc., children in Fox have been eligible to enroll in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Renee Carr, Treasurer of Rural Educational Heritage Inc., stated, “Our board members are so pleased to see this program expand beyond the Rural Special School boundaries to all youngsters in Stone County through the partnership of the United Way and Mountain View School District, along with generous corporate sponsors.”

Kimberly Tucker, Executive Director of United Way of North Central Arkansas, said, “We are thrilled to work together with local community partners in Stone County to get more books into the hands of preschoolers.”

Brent Howard, Mountain View School District Superintendent, stated, “Mountain View School District is honored to promote early childhood literacy by supporting this program, which complements our existing school programs to create a culture of reading at home.”

On October 2, Judge Avey hosted an informational meeting about the program, which led to the formation of a committee that raised approximately $4,000 for the program’s launch. Ongoing support will be needed to sustain the program. The cost to enroll a child for one year is $25 (an average of $2.10 per book).

Stone County Imagination Library will be an independent affiliate of the Arkansas Imagination Library, a state-wide partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. In 2017, Arkansas Imagination Library was formed as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization to create a state-wide program and provide resources for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library affiliates across Arkansas. Arkansas Imagination Library now has a presence in all 75 Arkansas counties. Currently, 34,335 children in Arkansas receive books each month.

Since launching in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has become the preeminent early childhood book gifting program in the world. The flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation has mailed well over 100 million free books in Australia, Canada, The Republic of Ireland, United Kingdom and the United States. The Imagination Library mails more than 1.4 million high-quality, age-appropriate books each month to registered children from birth to age five. Dolly envisioned creating a lifelong love of reading, inspiring them to dream. The impact of the program has been widely researched and results suggest positive increases in key early childhood metrics.

Penguin Random House is the exclusive publisher for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

For more information, visit https://imaginationlibrary.com... and https://www.liveunitednca.org/.

Mountain View Elementary School

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library Comes to Stone County