McHenry County among fastest growing Dolly Parton Imagination Library participants in Illinois

Six months after launching the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program in McHenry County, nonprofit United Way of Greater McHenry County says is one of the fastest growing counties in Illinois.

“There was truly a pent-up demand here in McHenry County, and parents were searching Dolly’s site regularly looking to see if it was available,” United Way of Greater McHenry County President and CEO Jamie Maravich said.

The national program partners with a local organization, McHenry County’s being United Way, to deliver a free book each month in the mail to children 5 years old and younger. The program expects to see about 5% of the eligible population sign up within the first year. About 17%, almost 2,800 kids, already have registered within the first six months, Maravich said.

The first book mailed to kids is “The Little Engine That Could” and the program finishes with the final book, “Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come.” Statistic that show that children learn to read up until third grade, and after that, they rely on reading in order to learn, Maravich said.

“It helps develop a love of reading, it helps develop capabilities for reading,” she said. “So having this early jump start to literacy, does really have an impact on learning overall.”

That mission to instill learning and reading skills is why McHenry-based Follett Content Solutions also teamed up with United Way to help fund the program. The nationwide education material provider hosted a book sale in September for educators to raise money. Almost 18,000 books were sold and $10,000 was donated to United Way, according to a Follett Content Solutions news release.

United Way’s goal is to get to 65% of eligible McHenry County kids signed up within five years and ensure donations stay strong to keep the program around, since it is up to local organizations to fund the books.

“With the support of Follett and others in the community, we definitely see it being as something that is here to stay,” Maravich said.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library program expanded to Illinois last year, to 40 counties with about 30,000 children enrolled, according to the release. Families can enroll their children on the McHenry-based United Way of Greater McHenry County’s website: uwmchenry.org/dolly-partons-imagination-library.