Video: Lowndes County joins Dolly Parton’s ‘Imagination Library’

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) — It’s a growing program with a single mission: to put a new book a month into the hands of children under the age of five. Lowndes County is the latest Mississippi community to establish a chapter of the Imagination Library.

The program was started 18 years ago by Dolly Parton in Sevier County, Tennessee. It has since spread to 1,600 communities and 700,000 children across the country. The aim of the program is to improve childhood literacy by putting a new book a month into the hands of children under the age of 5, regardless of family income.

The Lowndes County chapter plans on starting with 300 children in its first year. The Commercial Dispatch has provided seed money to fund 300 children for the first year; they are now looking for community partners to help fund the program to help expand the program in future years. It costs $25.00 to fund one child for a year.

For more information you can go to Lowndes County’s Imagination Library’s Facebook page.