*culture is not optional Partners with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

$2,500 grant from Three Rivers Area Community Foundation helps provide free books for children in Three Rivers 

*culture is not optional (*cino) recently announced the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL) launch in Three Rivers. Each month, the Imagination Library provides an age-appropriate book for every registered child ages 0 to 5 in the City of Three Rivers, absolutely free to the family. The Three Rivers Area Community Foundation (TRACF) awarded *cino a grant to help launch the DPIL. 

TRACF supports effective programs and projects that improve the quality of life within Three Rivers and the surrounding townships, focusing on community improvement, education, health, recreation, and cultural programs. The foundation’s $2,500 grant funds books for each child for the first year. *cino is actively seeking additional support to fund subsequent years, and donors can contribute to the program on *cino’s web site at www.cultureisnotoptional.com/donate.

Improving early childhood literacy with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library creates opportunities for children to thrive and succeed in school, helping their communities grow and prosper. “The mission of *culture is not optional is to work for the flourishing of all in our community through radical rootedness and boundless imagination,” said *cino’s Executive Director Rob Vander Giessen-Reitsma. “We’re excited to partner with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to send books directly to children in our city. Research continually shows that an early introduction to books and reading at home sparks curiosity, wonder, empathy, and cognitive development that leads to later positive achievement. We hope that this partnership will contribute to growing our city’s capacity for imagination for future generations of Three Rivers neighbors.”

The Imagination Library is available to all age-eligible children in the City of Three Rivers. Sign up at www.cultureisnotoptional.com/imagination-library.

About Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

Since its launch in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has become the preeminent early childhood book gifting program in the world. The flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation has gifted well over 150 million free books in Australia, Canada, The Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The Imagination Library mails more than 1.8 million high-quality, age-appropriate books each month to registered children from birth to age five. Dolly envisioned creating a lifelong love of reading, inspiring them to dream. The program’s impact has been widely researched, and results suggest positive increases in key early childhood literacy metrics. Penguin Random House is the exclusive publisher for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. For more information, please visit imaginationlibrary.com.