Saturday, February 16, 2013

Imagination Library expands reach in Lake County

Logo: Dolly Parton's Imagination LibraryGood news compounded: Imagination Library has expanded its reach in Lake County, Calif., as highlighted in recent communications from the Lake County Office of Education (LCOE)

A Jan. 25 eBlast from LCOE indicated that Imagination Library has the potential to involve more than 400 children and their families in reading a “book a month” together in the first year of a five-year initiative.

Shelly Mascari in the LCOE provided additional details: The Lake County Literacy Task Force allocated $2,500 to sponsor the first 100 participants.

“We gave those subscriptions to children under 18 months old enrolled in Early Head Start, The Hillcrest House state funded infant child care center, Migrant Head Start, ASPIRE teen parenting program, Lake Family Resource Center teen parenting program, and the Tribal Home Visiting program,” Mascari said.

Sutter Lakeside Hospital will sponsor the first 100 children born at its Family Birth Center, as stated in an earlier press release from the LCOE. The eBlast indicated, St. Helena Hospital, Clear Lake will sponsor the first 175.

Mascari said the program also received sponsorships from people and service clubs. A Feb. 15 eBlast from LCOE highlighted a $250 donation from the Lakeport Early Lions Club.

Dolly Parton launched Imagination Library in 1996, to benefit children in her home county in East Tennessee. Parton announced in 2000 that she would make the program available for replication to any community that was willing to partner with her to support it locally.

Imagination Library is one of four initiatives this year by the Lake County Literacy Task Force. Additional initiatives include the Lake County Big Read with volunteer reading and tutoring programs.

Annual sponsorships for Imagination Library cost $25 per child. The goal of Lake County’s Imagination Library is to sponsor each child from birth through 5 years according to the Literacy Task Force. Children will receive a book in their home each month. “The final book each child receives sends them off to kindergarten with an exciting book about starting school.”

For more information about Imagination Library, contact Mascari at smascari@lakecoe.org. To learn about Literacy Task Force initiatives, visit http://www.lakecoe.org/news/details/the_lake_county_literacy_task_force_selects_new_initiatives_for_2012_2013.

Published Feb. 19, 2013 in the Lake County Record-Bee

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