Free book gifting program
The Mora Creative Council and the Mora Health Council are teaming up to bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to Mora! The Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free books to children from birth to age five in participating communities. Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, Dolly started her Imagination Library in 1995 for the children within her home county. Today, her program spans four countries and mails over 1 million free books each month to children around the world, and New Mexico’s Imagination Library program has its own special twist: at least two of the books mailed each year must be bilingual. Check out the PowerPoint Presentation below for more information on how the program works.
We were introduced to the program by the Las Vegas Literacy Council in January and decided that it was something we would like to implement in Mora. We then began working to become an affiliate of the Imagination Library. There are several steps to becoming a local affiliate, including some paperwork, and of course, fundraising. While the Imagination Library is free to families, the local affiliate must find a way to pay for the books and mailings.
Currently, there are 249 eligible children in Mora County. This number is based off the latest U.S. Census data and is subject to change as more children are born and the data is updated. In order to be considered a successful program, an affiliate must register 60% of the eligible population. This means we would have to register 149 kids in Mora County, with a cost of $3,379 for all five years. The cost of registering all 249 children in Mora for five years is $5,646.
The Mora Creative Council has applied for a Walmart Community Grant to cover the cost for the budgeted population, and we will be notified in September if we are selected as grant recipients. However, in an effort to kick-start this program we are accepting donations! At the top of this page you will see a yellow button that reads “DONATE”. When you click on this button, you will be prompted to donate through PayPal, which is a safe and secure way to pay online. You can also donate to any of our other programs or events using the method outlined above. Just be sure to leave a note in PayPal (e.g. “For Imagination Library”, “For Fall Festival”) so your money only goes to programs you want to support! If you’d prefer to donate cash or checks, email us at ourmoranm@gmail.com for further instruction.
We are so excited to begin implementing this program in our community, and as soon as we have enough money to cover the first year’s costs ($468.00), we can start registering children. Until then, be sure to check out https://donate.imaginationlibrary.com/goodnight-with-dolly/ to hear Dolly Parton reading bedtime stories from the Imagination Library!