Legendary music star Dolly Parton has died at the age of 80. The “Queen of Country” built an impressive career as a singer, songwriter, country music icon, actor, and businesswoman. She was also a philanthropist who dedicated much of her life to helping others.
Parton leaves behind a lasting legacy through her efforts, which include creating a global literacy program, funding regular scholarships, donating to medical research, and contributing to disaster relief and community relief programs.
In 1988, for instance, Parton created the Dollywood Foundation to decrease the high school dropout rate in her childhood home county, Sevier County in Tennessee.
She also created the Buddy Program, promising to give every seventh- and eighth-grade student $500 if they graduated from high school. Each student was paired with a buddy and asked to pledge to do everything they could to ensure that they both graduated.
Her efforts reduced the dropout rate for both classes from 35% to 6%, according to the foundation.
Literacy loves company
In 1995, Parton launched Dolly’s Imagination Library in Sevier County. The monthly book-gifting program provides free books to children under 5. It started as a local initiative and grew to an international movement that is still going strong.
Last year, Imagination Library celebrated its 30th anniversary, with the global literacy program donating over 3.4 million books each month. In the United States, 1 in 6 children under the age of 5 receive Imagination Library books.
Since the program was founded, over 300 million books have been donated to children worldwide.
Here’s how Dolly’s Imagination Library works
Every month, Dolly’s Imagination Library mails books to all children enrolled in the program. There’s no cost to families.
Imagination Library provides the infrastructure, which includes managing the central database, coordinating book selections, negotiating wholesale pricing, covering administrative costs, and coordinating monthly mailings.
The nonprofit teams up with local program partners—including businesses, school districts, organizations, and individuals—to bring the initiative to communities around the world. The local partners promote their programs within their communities, online, and at local events.
How to get involved
If you want to help carry on Parton’s legacy and inspire more children to dream more, learn more, care more, and be more, you can get involved.
An online tool tells you if the Imagination Library is available in your community. If so, you can donate to your local partner to bring books to more children in the area.
If the program isn’t available, you can apply to become an official local partner. This requires securing a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor and fundraising the wholesale costs of books and mailing.
Children are eligible to enroll in the program from birth to age 5.