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On July 30, Fox Valley United Way held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in honor of their partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The program sends every child enrolled a free book every month until their fifth birthday, and is designed to inspire a love of reading and to ensure children are prepared for kindergarten, no matter their cultural or socioeconomic background.
Lisa Foydel, Fox Valley United Way’s Director of Engagement, believes nurturing curiosity and love for education at an early age helps ensure each child is poised for academic success.
“If you start kindergarten at the same level as other children in the classroom, statistics show you are more likely to graduate from high school at the same level,” Foydel said. “We believe strongly that parents are their child’s first teacher. Vocabulary is one of the greatest predictors of how well a child will perform once they get to school.”
The Imagination Library is part of Fox Valley United Way’s initiative to address community inequities in early childhood education and to help alleviate challenges associated with household financial disparities.
Foydel said following sounds of words and identifying them with pictures and colors helps the child build a solid foundation upon which future learning develops. Each book delivered is age-appropriate and meant to progress the child as they get older.
She said Kendall County and the Aurora area has seen a growing need for combatting “book deserts” as parents face larger financial constraints and work longer hours to make ends meet.
The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is partly funded by the Dollywood Foundation. Local funding is provided by the Grundy/Kendall Regional Office of Education, the FT Cares Foundation, the Rotary Club of Aurora United and the state of Illinois.
A large part of Fox Valley United Way’s funding for the program comes from donations from individual community members. More information on how to sponsor a year or five years of books for a local child or to enroll your own child can be found at the Fox Valley United Way’s website.
The response has so far been positive. Foydel said they were told to expect 1,200 children enrolled in the first year, but has surpassed that number since the program began operating in March. She said the continued success of the program is premised upon public funding enabling the program to grow and meet the expanding needs of families in the county. The organization is also looking to expand to Kane County in 2025 which will require more funding to accommodate the large need by families in that county.
The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is part of Fox Valley United Way’s early-childhood initiative, SPARK (Strong Prepared and Ready for Kindergarten).
“To sit down on somebody’s lap and have that person share a book with you; that’s magical,” Foydel said. “If we want our community to thrive in the future, we have to make sure we’re educating kids to take up the mantle. We know if we do not help them and reach them when they are really young, it becomes so much harder for them to catch up in school.”
As part of SPARK, the organization partners with local parents, social workers, and teachers to help provide best practices in early childhood. These services contribute to the organization’s efforts to provide resources and services to struggling working families.
Foydel said they have received large requests because community members’ wages often do not keep up with high housing and childcare costs.
United Way also offers a 24/7, free 211 hot-line for both people in crisis and people seeking help with overcoming their everyday financial challenges.