16 Mar 2014 Imagination Library kickoff
First Lady of Arkansas Ginger Beebe helped kick off Faulkner County’s affiliation with a program that will help provide books to preschoolers.
Lifelong Learners, a Conway non-profit dedicated to the early childhood population in the community, is the local affiliate for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (imaginationlibrary.com). The program provides a free book per month to children from birth up to the age of 5. Imagination Library works through non-profit affiliates that step up to support the program through finding sponsorships and managing the program locally. Through the program, 12 books are provided per year per child for only $25.
Lifelong Learners founder Charlotte Green announced that the program has partnered with the Faulkner County Community Foundation, Jim Davidson and the “Bookcase for Every Child” program, Conway Corporation and state Sen. Jason Rapert. Funding has been secured for 300 children to receive books for two years, and more financial support is being sought to expand the program.
The kickoff included a local preschool performing a brief song and Kathy Powers, former Conway Teacher of the Year, reading an Imagination Library book to the children.
The event was held during the regular weekly meeting of the Conway Noon Rotary Club at the Conway Country Club.
The Rotary club has pledged financial support for the reading program.
For more information, contact Michelle Ford, Conway program director for Lifelong Learners, at 501.450.4810 or [email protected], or visit lifelonglearnersar.org.
