Imagination Library effort in Washington County brings in funds

MARIETTA -- The Marietta Community Foundation this month announced a big win for child literacy in Washington County.

The foundation undertook an aggressive campaign in November to round up support for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. The results were spectacular: $119,500, enough funding to run the program for well over a year.

The Imagination Library provides one book a month, delivered at no cost to the families of children under 5 years of age. The program requires a local sponsor to pick up the cost of $25 a year per child.

"To sign up every child in Washington County would cost about $70,000 a year," said foundation executive director Heather Allender. "We're really impressed with what we've been able to accomplish so far, but it will be an ongoing campaign. Our goal is to have every child in the county signed up."

The campaign's success was due in part to a push by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and first lady Fran DeWine, who have established a state matching fund through 2021, Allender said. The money raised locally was doubled through that program, she said, with the same potential through the next two years.

The foundation initially committed $20,000 as a local match, hoping to raise a total of $40,000 in local contributions. With $10,000 each from Friends of the Washington County Library, John and Lori Lehman and the Virginia K. Mayles and Peter Polites Charitable Family Foundation, $5,000 from the Spartan Foundation, and another $4,500 from other donors, the campaign brought in nearly half again what it had set out to raise. With the matching grant from the governor's fund, the effort secured $119,500.

The Imagination Library helps address concerns about early childhood literacy to prepare preschool age children for the challenges of their education careers. Since it was established in 1995, the program has sent more than 128 million books to 1.5 million children. The program is especially valuable for children and families who don't have easy access to public libraries - it enables them to build a library at home.

According to Census data, approximately 3,000 children in Washington County could qualify for the program, although only a few hundred are registered.

"We're using 3,000 as an estimate for now, but we'll have a more accurate number after the 2020 Census," Allender said.

The Friends of the Washington County Library made the first contribution to the MCF campaign.

"The Friends of the Washington County Public Library have been looking to support a program like this for years," said Katherine Pekruhn, president of the organization, in an MCF news release. "We encourage reading with kids from birth on, and this was the first opportunity we found that we were overjoyed to partner with... you can never start reading too young."

Allender said anyone interested in registering their child for the program can do so through the Ohio governor's office website: ohioimaginationlibrary.com. Allender said the MCF is notified by the state and processes the sponsorship requirements. The program is free of charge to families of qualified children.

Michael Kelly can be contacted at mkelly@mariettatimes.com.