How Dolly Parton's Imagination Library Came to the Verde Valley
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Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails a free book every month to children from birth to age five in participating communities within the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Republic of Ireland. Over 3 million books are mailed monthly.
Over 3 million children are registered worldwide! Total books gifted worldwide is over 240 million to date. Get to know our Board of Directors
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How it All BeganThe Rotary Club of Sedona brought the Imagination Library to Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek first, with kick-off events at both libraries. David Simmer, the 2019-2020 Rotary District Governor for the northern half of Arizona, spearheaded that initiative. The Great Sedona Chili Cook-Off and many individual donors helped fund the program. Rotarians and volunteers wearing Cat-in-the Hat hats helped parents enroll at family friendly community events. The Sedona club worked with leaders in the Beaver Creek community to add Rimrock to the coverage area.
In July 2016, with the help of a one-year challenge grant from the Arizona Community Foundation of Sedona and the support of all the Rotary Clubs in the Verde Valley (Sedona, Sedona Red Rocks, Verde Valley clubs,) the coverage area expanded to all Verde Valley communities. To simplify the financial accounting, the newly named Verde Valley Imagination Library (VVIL) became its own 501(c)(3) nonprofit with representatives of each Rotary Club on the board. There are no paid staff and no facility overhead. In November 2017 the VVIL established a partnership with the Northern Arizona Healthcare’s Verde Valley Medical center to give the first book to every newborn and to help parents register in the free book program. The VVIL Board has been involved in promoting the program over the coverage area and continue to fundraise. The Blazin for Books Celebration and Fundraiser was held on 2-4-24. Read more about it here. We are proud to partner with the local pre-schools, Head Start preschools and local libraries. We are also thankful for the grant funding we have received from many partners in the area. |
Where We Are TodayCurrently there are over 1800 children served in the Verde Valley. When families move to the area, they can enroll their child(ren). The only requirement is that they live in the 10 zip codes covered by the VVIL. The first book will be received 2 months after enrollment. Town and number of children registered* Cottonwood - 784 Camp Verde - 420 Sedona & VOC - 187 Rimrock - 172 Clarkdale - 130 Cornville - 110 Jerome - 2 * Enrollment as of the end of June 2024 |
