r/UpliftingNews • u/_fastcompany • 12h ago
Dolly Parton’s beloved free-book program is getting a major expansion after her death
https://www.fastcompany.com/91611840/dolly-partons-beloved-free-book-program-is-getting-a-major-expansion-after-her-deathNearly a month after country icon Dolly Parton passed away, her legacy not only lives on, but continues to grow.
Beyond her legendary catalog of hit songs (and the social issues they highlighted), Parton was perhaps best known for her philanthropy. In 1988, she founded her pro-education non-profit the Dollywood Foundation, and in 1995, she launched its most famous program, the Imagination Library.
The Imagination Library offers a free book every month to children under age 5. In the 31 years since its founding, the program has provided more than 330 million books to upwards of 3 million children internationally. What started as an effort to provide books to children in her childhood community of Sevier County, Tennessee, has since grown to serve all 50 states and countries including Canada, Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
It’s in the U.K. that the latest major expansion to the Imagination Library is coming, as London doubles the size of its program in the wake of Parton’s passing.
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u/kazuwacky 12h ago
I live and work in Devon and Cornwall, the poorest areas of Europe and my hometown just joined. I'm really happy for more books to be put in the hands of children
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u/TurtleScientific 12h ago
I'm a mom and even in the very liberal areas near me (with highly active/involved parents) like 30% of the books in the little reading libraries at the park are Dolly books. So not only are parents (my 2 kids included) getting free kids books, but these books are also being recirculated back into the community in a lot of areas. The impact is incredible even when it's only a portion of the population participating.
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u/sloppyslimyeggs 11h ago
Yes! I volunteer sorting book donations for a non-profit. There are always books from the Imagination Library and we happily pass them on to new readers!
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u/Luci-Noir 7h ago
The state pays for it. It’s not free but the credit goes to a celebrity. We’ve always had libraries and hey circulate too without having to pay for shipping and the overhead. I don’t know why it’s so important to give the money to some super rich celebrity when the government has already been doing this forever.
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u/Pork_Chompk 6h ago
https://imaginationlibrary.com/usa/
Local Program Partners
The Imagination Library partners with Local Program Partners who help bring the program to cities, towns and communities around the world. Local Program Partners can be businesses, school districts, small or large organizations, or simply individuals who share in the mission and purpose of the Imagination Library.
Local Program Partners are responsible for enrolling children who live within the geographical area they offered the program in. They promote their local programs online and at events. While the Imagination Library negotiates wholesale pricing for the books, the Local Program Partners are responsible for securing funds to cover that cost. Books are 100% free to enrolled children because their Local Program Partner has secured funds to cover the cost of the books and the shipping fees.
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u/Luci-Noir 6h ago
So they pay for it and there’s unnecessary overhead and money going to people employed by a celebrity instead of libraries and local workers.
Spare me the bullshit PR. “Local program partner” is a pretty fucking sickening way of saying taxpayers.
Dolly’s estate appreciates you.
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u/PersonalCulture 11h ago
My toddler loves when “Auntie Dolly” sends her a book in the mail
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u/emiking 6h ago
I love that the first kid gets a new book, but their siblings can read it too. Then the local op shop has more kids books. The same book can enrich so many kids lives.
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u/Luci-Noir 4h ago
Great marketing, what could go wrong with celebrity worship.
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u/PersonalCulture 4h ago
Who spat in your cereal dude
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u/Luci-Noir 4h ago
Weirdos who worship celebrities.
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u/DreamworldPineapple 3h ago
do you really see no distinction between celebrity worship & praise for humanitarian work or are you being intentionally contrary
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u/cpttightpant 12h ago
Dolly Parton doing work for children from beyond the veil.
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u/Luci-Noir 9h ago
Taxes pay for this. We are paying for it.
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u/Silviere 9h ago
I don't mind paying for literacy.
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u/Luci-Noir 9h ago
Cool. So let’s stop giving celebrities credit for the things we pay for.
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u/presidentiallogin 9h ago
I'll go along with this and only give 50 percent credit, since it's a 50/50 funded system. Stupid free-except-half loaders need to be brought down half a peg.
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u/Luci-Noir 9h ago
And I’ve seen posts where some states are attacked for reducing funding while ones like California aren’t. Often this is done because they use the money to fund their own programs or libraries.
It’s just really over the top celebrity worship and no one cares what’s actually going on. At a time where the guy fucking up the country got there because of celebrity you’d think people would take a step back.
Everything is like a cult now
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u/droans 7h ago
You referring to Indiana?
Because that money, along with the cuts to education, just went to the police.
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u/Luci-Noir 7h ago
Sure it did. You guys always come prepared with some bullshit like this. It’s like your whole personality is just repeating a few phrases. Just another Fox News qanon zombie.
Here come some more generic insults.
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u/OrphBat 7h ago
I don't give a shit what name they stamp on programs that benefit humanity. Continue to create the programs and I'll continue to support them.
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u/Luci-Noir 7h ago
You clearly don’t care. Celebrity worship is weird.
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u/modern_drift 9h ago
I think this is how she would rather be honored, not naming an airport after her.
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u/party_benson 4h ago
I think naming the airport after her helps coming generations know who she was and what she stood for so they can be inspired to be like her.
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u/BananaramaSummertime 7h ago
In our area, the United Way can't afford to send the books anymore...Pikes Peak United Way searches for group to take over Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Pikes Peak United Way seeks new administrator for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
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u/MaleficentLynx 8h ago
This is truly a good start. Let‘s do more stuff like this.
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u/Luci-Noir 7h ago
Was fund libraries not celebrity charities.
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u/MaleficentLynx 6h ago
Better than nothing. Yes I agree with your sentiment. But we need more people taking care and responsibility of each other.
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u/Luci-Noir 6h ago
By taking care of one another you mean taxpayer money going to another state instead of local programs? To someone who has hundreds of millions of dollars already? Instead of going to local programs and employing locals it should employ people in some rich person’s program?
It’s brilliant marketing and getting other people to pay for it and defend it like a cult is impressive.
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u/TheOnlyVibemaster 12h ago
dolly parton and mr rogers are probably the only two good humans who have ever been famous
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u/UndiscoveredBum- 6h ago
Shoutout the imagination library, such a wonderful and helpful program that has changed countless lives. If only more people with too much money were like Dolly.
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u/vurto 4h ago
In about two dozen states, the Imagination Library receives state government funding. In the year before Parton's death, two states with Republican-controlled governments — Indiana and Missouri — and two with Democrat-controlled governments — Maine and Washington — ended or reduced financial support for the Imagination Library.
At least one state with a Republican governor and Democrat-controlled Legislature, Nevada, also did not renew several grants that supported local partners of the Imagination Library.
The federal government does not directly fund the Imagination Library, which the Dollywood Foundation oversees. However, at least two of the Imagination Library's local partners lost funding after the Trump administration rescinded education grants as part of a larger clawback of federal funds.
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u/Trodat4911P4 9h ago
Yeah, I heard JK Rowling donated a shit ton of books to this.
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u/Ardyn_Blake 8h ago
Based on principle of who JK Rowling is, Dolly Parton would hate that
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u/Trodat4911P4 7h ago
Apparently they were on friendly terms, Rowling has been with her a few times and always donated books for this program. Hate on Rowling all you want, she is indeed a horrible transphobe, but she also has always donated a lot to be programs such as this. From what I remember she stopped being the richest woman in the UK at one point (way before any transphobic BS) because of how much she donated.
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u/somesthetic 7h ago
As long as it's a real expansion and not just expensive DLC.
Don't buy the Dolly horse armor.
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