The crew at Pirates Voyage wants to say thank you to everyone for another great Imagination Library Kid’s Festival!
This year’s event drew an estimated crowd of over 7,000! At one point, our local police officers had to leave their booth to help direct traffic into the event. We are thankful they were happy to help out.
Special thanks to all the volunteers for their many hours of service. And thank you to our vendors for their wonderful booths and fun activities. We know Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library means as much to you as it does to us!
The Imagination Library in South Carolina serves over 36,000 registered children. Pirates Voyage is the local affiliate here in Horry County where 7,576 registered children receive one free book each month.
If you live in Horry County, SC and have a child under five years old, visit the Imagination Library website to register.
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Founded in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting organization that currently mails over one million free books each month to children in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States. Each month, the program mails specially selected, high-quality, age-appropriate books to registered children from birth until they start Kindergarten in participating communities. Dolly envisioned creating a lifelong love of reading in children, preparing them for school and inspiring them to dream. Recent studies suggest participation in the Imagination Library is positively and significantly associated with higher measures of early language and math development. Penguin Random House is the exclusive publisher for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has reached another major milestone! Over one million Facebook users are now following the free book gifting organization on the social media site. Thanks to the loyal support of those one million people over five billion Facebook users have been reached within the past 90 days. This exponential reach has given the program record-breaking enrollments and the popularity has peaked the interest of thousands of potential new partners around the world. Dolly said,
"Thanks to each and every one of you for supporting my Imagination Library. With more than a million friends, we can make the world a better place for millions of children, one page at a time!"
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Dolly Parton's Imagination Library now sends over one million free books per month to children around the world. To date, the organization has sent more than 85 million free, age-appropriate books to registered children.
The program is also celebrating the release of a state approved license plate in Tennessee. Residents of Dolly's home state may now purchase the official Dolly Parton's Imagination Library license plate at their local County Clerk’s office.
License plates cost $35 each and are available at County Clerks’ offices. Of the total cost, local Imagination Library affiliates will receive $15.37. The remaining amount will go to the Tennessee Arts Commission and the TN Highway Fund ($15.37) and plate production costs ($4.25).
Thanks to the generosity of Governor’s Books from Birth Foundation (GBBF) which covers half of the monthly cost of books and mailing in Tennessee, each license plate sold will provide funds for one child to receive free books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library for one full year! Great news for Tennessee residents who wish to support one of the world’s largest book gifting organizations whose mission is to inspire a love of reading in children across the state and beyond.
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Tennessee residents showed an overwhelming support for the new license plate during pre-sales, helping the Imagination Library secure the minimum 1,000 pre-orders in just a few months. Special thanks to everyone who pre-ordered plates to help the organization reach this goal!
The Dream Fund selected the Story Starters project- a collaboration between Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, Beanstalk and LuCid at the University of Liverpool to receive £1 Million ($1.2 Million).
The funding announcement was made on 24th January at People’s Postcode Lottery’s annual Charity Gala, held in Edinburgh’s Prestonfield House. The event was a celebration of the £66.3 million awarded to charities in 2016 thanks to players of the charity lottery.
Ambassador Jeff Brazier and Managing Director/Head of Marketing for People’s Postcode Lottery UK, Lorna Menzies presented the check to the Regional Director of the Imagination Library UK- Kirsteen Watson, CEO of Beanstalk- Ginny Lunn, and Deputy Director of LuCiD- Professor Julian Pine.
The funding will result in the recruitment and training of 600 Story Starter volunteers to give one-to-one support, with high-quality books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, to 1,800 children between 3 and 5 years old, creating an innovative approach to learning. LuCid will carry out expert education evaluation. If successful, the programme will be rolled out to 15,000 children over the next 5 years. Dolly Parton said,
"It seems only right that dreamers like us have been acknowledged by the Dream Fund! I am so grateful for their confidence in our partnership and I promise we will do everything in our power to make sure our children's
dreams do come true."
The Dollywood Foundation UK was one of several organizations who were recognized by the Dream Fund whose offerings totaled £2.5 million in 2017. Charitable organizations in Great Britain (Scotland, England or Wales) were eligible to apply. According to the Dream Fund website applicants are encouraged to be “innovative, creative and original, and present projects that are a genuine ‘dream’.” Previous winners have included Building Our Dreams, Edible Playgrounds and Energy Gardens.
With thanks to North Lincolnshire Council & East Coast Pictures for some of the footage in this film.
Each month, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library sends over one million free books to registered children living in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. In the UK alone, there are over 90 local champions who help make this dream possible. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Imagination Library’s launch in the United Kingdom.
Special thanks to Beanstalk and LuCiD for partnering with the Imagination Library in this effort. Also, thank you to People's Postcode Lottery.
Beanstalk is a national charity that provides one-to-one literacy support to children who struggle with their reading ability and confidence.
The ESRC International Centre for Language and Communicative Development (LuCiD) is a five-year research collaboration working with partners from across the world to transform our understanding of how children learn to communicate with language.
Dolly Parton joins her fellow country music artists who are lending their star power to raise money for their favorite charities this Christmas season at Nashville’s Gaylord Opryland Resort. This year, Dolly's tree features ornaments and decorations inspired by her new holiday special, "Dolly Parton's Christmas of Many Colors: Circle of Love" airing on NBC on Nov. 30 at 9 p.m. EST.
The online auction opened Nov. 11. The highest bidder of the Dolly Parton sponsored tree will receive the decorations along with a host of prizes including:
Dolly's tree has an estimated value of $2,000. Each tree's decorations and accompanying prizes are up for grabs in the online auction. Bidding opened for Dolly's tree on Nov. 11, 2016, and ends Jan. 1, 2017 at 11 a.m. CST. Other trees include those sponsored by Loretta Lynn, Diamond Rio and the Nashville Ballet.
Parade of Trees is part of A Country Christmas at Gaylord Opryland. This free, self-guided tour features 14 spectacularly decorated trees throughout the resort's nine acres of indoor gardens.
Proceeds from Dolly's tree will benefit the Imagination Library, Dolly's book gifting organization which has mailed more than 85 million free books to children around the world since it began in 1996.
