PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — A new partnership between The County’s four hospitals and the United Way of Aroostook will help put a new book in the hands of families with infants and toddlers each and every month.
Representatives from TAMC, Cary Medical Center, Houlton Regional Hospital and Northern Maine Medical Center joined with leaders of the United Way of Aroostook and the Aroostook County Action Program’s (ACAP) Family Services recently to announce their support for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The nationwide initiative, which United Way of Aroostook launched locally in October 2013, puts a new book in the hands of families who sign up with children from birth to age 5 at no cost to them every month.
“We are thrilled with the support that all four county hospitals have given to this project. They all recognize the importance of the program and have been so willing to help us expand it to reach more young families,” said Claudia Stevens, executive director of the United Way of Aroostook. “We look forward to working with them to make this an ongoing success for The County’s youngest citizens.
“Currently there are 1,355 kids registered in the program, and the number grows every day,” she said. “There are nearly 3,500 children under the age of 5 living in Aroostook County, and our hope is to have them all registered in this program.”
As part of the partnership, nursing staff at the four hospitals will provide the opportunity for parents of newborns at each of their facilities to sign up for the free book delivery program before they depart the hospital after delivering their child. Additionally, each hospital has agreed to sponsor the program, through the United Way, for the babies born at their hospital. The contributions will help underwrite part of the cost of the program.
According to United Way of Aroostook officials, the average cost of each book and the associated mailing expense to get it to each child monthly averages $2.08. It’s an investment that all partner hospitals feel is well spent.
“The Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library project is a wonderful way for us at Pines Health Services and Cary Medical Center to collaborate with the United Way of Aroostook and other County health care organizations to benefit our youth and local families,” said Jen Plante, RNC-OB, maternal/child primary charge nurse at Cary Medical Center. “Reading to your pre-school age children is such a special way to have family time together and to start your children on their way to a lifetime of reading enjoyment and healthy reading habits.”
Since its initial program launch in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has gone from just a few dozen books to over 60 million books mailed to children in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The United Way of Aroostook is among the more than 1,600 local community organizations that provide the Imagination Library to over a quarter million children each and every month.
The announcement was made in a Head Start Program classroom at the ACAP Family Center.
