BROOKINGS (9-2-26) — Last month, country music legend Dolly Parton passed away.
Among her many achievements was Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which distributes free books to preschoolers.
Heidi Gullickson is Executive Director of the Brookings Area United Way, a longtime partner of the program… “Those books come directly from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program, and the local United Way helps to basically cover the postage on these. And it is such an inexpensive program for the value of these books getting into the hands for those kids. So for each child it’s about $30 a year to have 12 age-appropriate, high-value books mailed to the child — to come right to their mailbox.”
She said the program promotes both literacy and family togetherness… “Not only is it fun for the kids to get mail — we all love to get the mail when we’re little like that — it creates those opportunities for adults in that child’s life to sit down with them, to read, to open their imagination, to just be learning right alongside them.”
To learn more, sign-up a child, or make a donation to support the program — visit the website of the Brookings Area United Way.
— Brookings Radio News
