At the Thursday May 29 meeting of the Hickory Rotary Club, a check for $20,000 was presented to Kim Holden, Executive Director, Catawba County Partnership for Children to support Imagination Library.
Imagination Library is administered locally by the Catawba County Partnership for Children, a local non-profit agency that works to ensure that children in our county begin school healthy and prepared for success. Children enrolled in Imagination Library are mailed a free, age-appropriate book each month until they turn 5 years old. Since its inception in April 2011, the program has grown to serve over 4,200 Catawba County children each month.
In 2011 Hickory Rotary club donated $15,000 to help launch Imagination Library in Catawba County. In 2012 the club donated $12,500 and in 2013 an additional donation of $15,000. Thursday’s $20,000 donation for 2014 brings the total to $62,500, providing 31,250 books to children in our community.
Thursday’s donation was made possible by Hickory Rotary Club’s successful fundraising activities, highlighted in March by the annual Rotarian Idol fundraiser. Hickory Rotary’s clubs ongoing commitment of financial support continues to provide necessary assistance, and is consistent with the club’s continued commitment to and support of local educational initiatives.
Dolly Parton originally launched the Imagination Library program in 1996 to benefit the children of her home county in East Tennessee. The program has since spread to over 1600 local communities, serving over 725,000 children, throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and the U.K. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is in its second three-year partnership as an official Service Partner with Rotary International.
