A popular Aroostook County program focused on putting books in the hands of children is about to hit another milestone.
This month United Way of Aroostook’s Dolly Parton Imagination Library will hand out its 70,000th book.
“And that’s huge for us,” Sherry Locke, United Way of Aroostook executive director, said.
There are other, smaller, Dolly programs in Maine.
“But nobody does an entire county,” she said.
“We know that exposing children to age-appropriate books really helps get them ready for school and that’s what we’re really trying to do,” she said.
United Way of Aroostook ships out over 2,000 books to County families each month and every month that number grows, according to Locke.
“The only bad thing we hear about Dolly is when your child turns 5 they graduate so they’re not eligible to be enrolled anymore,” she said.
To go beyond the five-year cap the United Way has partnered with Katahdin Trust Company and this June they will provide backpacks filled with books and assignments to every first-grader in The County. United Way is calling it the Summer Slide.
“We’re in the process of ordering the books and getting numbers from schools so about 700 kids will be part of that program this summer,” she said.
“These kids have learned to read now they’re in first grade and the research shows that if they don’t read over the summer they will lose the skills they’ve learned,” she said.
This year the initiative will cost United Way of Aroostook $60,000. Currently there are over 1,000 Imagination Library graduates and last month they mailed out 2,148 books.
“I think the total amount of books sent in Maine each month is 2,500 and close to 2,200 of those books belong to Aroostook County,” she said.
The program has approximately 68 percent of all eligible children enrolled, United Way’s goal is 70 percent.
For the past several years children all over Aroostook County have waited patiently by their mailboxes for new books courtesy of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
In 2011 a group of volunteers brought the national book program to the St. John Valley. The program was a hit and soon volunteers wanted to ensure the longevity of the program so they approached United Way of Aroostook to help continue putting free books in the hands of area youngsters.
Since then the program has spread beyond the St. John Valley and is open to all County kids from ages birth to 5 years old.
“We don’t expect a 2-year-old to read, but they’re learning the basic skills,” she said. “Learning how to hold the book in the right direction, how to turn the page, how the words match the pictures.
“Our research is showing that is happening, we’re not going to see a dramatic difference right away, but if a child can read proficiently at third grade studies show that their rate of graduation go way up so hopefully our next generation will have been given those tools so they’re able graduate from high school and go on to take care of themselves and their families, that’s our hope,” Locke added.
