“The seeds of dreams are often found in books, and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world,” Dolly Parton once said. Reading with a child is such a simple act, but it is one that can make an extraordinary impact. In addition to it being
for seven years before turning it over to the local Kiwanis. Today, the program has its own board with Larry Roberts serving as the secretary and treasurer and Amanda Bell who is the acting administrator and president. Together, Roberts and Bell serve alongside members of the community like Peggy Pulley, Ginger Vann, Andrea Pewitt, Diana Pike, Jody Vann, May Lingner, and Valerie Kemp. Thanks to McLeroy and those who picked up where she left off, an average of 1500 children in Cheatham County get to experience the thrill of receiving a new book in their mailbox every month. “Literacy is the foundation that creates a more successful community,” says Bell. “There is a need to invest in the education of our children to better our society as they mature.” Even though Tennessee is the only state in the U.S. where a portion of book costs is covered by the state through the Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation, the Cheatham chapter of the Imagination Library still needs around $20,000 to operate annually money that solely comes from grants and donations.
a bonding experience between caregiver and child, reading can help inspire a love of books, spark creativity, and help develop strong early language and literacy skills that can last a lifetime. Tennessee residents are no stranger to the generosity, outreach, and caring nature of Parton. One of her most impressive contributions to date is the Imagination Library, a book gifting program that that mails free books to young children, birth to age five, each month. The program began in 1995 and swiftly grew beyond its initial reach of children living in Sevier County where Dolly grew up. By 2000, a national replication effort was well underway, and by 2003, the Imagination Library had mailed a whopping one million books to children around the globe. That same year, Cheatham County resident Elke McLeroy began researching the program so that her granddaughter could start receiving books in the mail each month. Like Dolly, McLeroy had a grand vision for local children. When she discovered that Cheatham County did not yet have access to the program, McLeroy took things into her own hands and started a 501c3 for the Cheatham County Imagination Library; she ran the organization
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