In the days after Dolly Parton’s death on August 25, more than 100 additional Columbus County children signed up for the country music star’s book program.
That’s according to Gloria Parker-Barr, who has worked as the county’s support specialist for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library since 2018. She said she had never seen so many new registrations in such a short time.
“Some parents might have thought the program would end after [Parton’s] death, but I don’t think so,” Parker-Barr said. “This program is her heart and continues on. That was her passion.”
The Imagination Library sends one age-appropriate book a month to the homes of participating children up to age 5. Parton, whose father never learned to read or write, launched the program in 1995 in Sevier County, Tennessee, to promote literacy. It has since gifted more than 300 million books to about 3.1 million children in the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
Children in Bladen, Columbus, Robeson, and Scotland counties have received more than 395,000 books through the Imagination Library in the last six years, according to the North Carolina Partnership for Children, which administers the program locally. Throughout the state, kids have gotten 27 million books during that time.
In North Carolina, the General Assembly allocates money to counties to pay $2.60 per child in monthly mail fees, said Laura Bilbro-Berry, literacy manager for the Partnership for Children.
About 42 counties across the state, including Bladen, Columbus and Scotland, paused enrollment last year because the state budget didn’t fully fund the program. But lawmakers passed a long-overdue budget over the summer that opened up funding.
More people around the world have reportedly donated to and signed up for the Imagination Library since Parton died, including in the Border Belt.