Genre Fiction

Riddle me this: what do Dolly Parton and the Rotary International service club have in common?

Give up? The country singer and the “Service Above Self” volunteer organization both have a passion for promoting reading. The two have joined up to encourage literacy among children by providing children with books from birth to age 5 through the Rotary club’s Imagination Library program. The program sends participating kids one age appropriate book a month, starting with The Little Engine That Could, and ending with the final title Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come. The goal is to spark the children’s interest in learning and encourage the families to spend time together reading.

“In today’s world, literacy is a basic requirement for success in life,” says Rotary Foundation Trustee John Germ. “For decades, Rotary clubs have supported literacy programs for children and adults, and this collaborative relationship will help lift our literacy effort to the next level by promoting early childhood reading.”

“Rotarians love kids as much as I do, so I truly believe we can do something extraordinary together to help even more children love to read and succeed,” says Parton of her Tennessee-based Dollywood Foundation’s partnering with the club.

If you would like to support the two foundations in their efforts, consider joining a local Rotary club. Membership dues will help pay for the related expenses including purchasing the books and shipping them to children in need.

There are about 10,400 Rotary clubs in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, which are all included in the partnership. Addtionally, there are more than 33,000 clubs in 200 countries worldwide.