Township of Lyons Clerk Elyse Hoffenberg announced that the township will be a part of a literacy initiative started by late entertainer Dolly Parton.
“We have an arrangement that we are bringing Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program to all of the residents in Lyons Township,” Hoffenberg said at the Sept. 8 board meeting. “We are so thrilled.
“We find literacy to be a real challenge and we think for people to have accessible and equitable outcomes, literacy is essential. The Imagination Library program I believes entitles every resident in Lyons Township to receive one free book every month for the first five years of their lives.”
According to imaginationlibrary.com, Parton started the program in 1995 because her father could not read nor write.
“When I was growing in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true,” Parton said on the website. “I know there are children in your community with their own dreams. They dream of becoming a doctor or an inventor or a minister. Who knows? Maybe there is a little girl who whose dream is to be a writer or a singer.
“The seeds of these dreams are often found in books and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world.”
Since the program started, the Imagination Library has gifted 332,411,218 books to children in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Republic of Ireland.
She made her father proud.
“Before he passed away, my daddy told me the Imagination Library was the most important thing I had ever done,” Dolly said on the website. “I can’t tell you how much that meant to me because I created the Imagination Library as a tribute to my daddy.
“He was the smartest man I have ever known but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams.”
Parton’s passing on Aug. 25 brought added awareness to the Imagination Library but Township of Lyons officials had this plan for months.
“We actually started that conversation right before Dolly passed,” Community Support Specialist Emmie Crement said. “Now that she has passed, it’s even a more beautiful way.”
Crement said the next step is to “make sure all of the babies get registered for this.”