UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club

On Wednesday, October 18, the UW-Whitewater/Community Optimist Club heard from our guest speaker Larry Kachel regarding the “Whitewater Leads” program. Larry discussed the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. The goal of the organization is to help children around the nation receive books in the mail and help to improve children’s learning and reading skills.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library gives out 1.2 billion books per month, and works with about 16,000 communities. The program begins as soon as a child is born, and goes until their 5^th birthday. During these years, each child who is enrolled in the program gets their own book in the mail every month. The books that are sent to the children are free, as this organization runs on donations and funds that are provided by the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Whitewater Leads’ goal is to get about $25 per year, per child (through donations from various organizations). Whitewater Leads has already seen just how great this program is by looking at students test results and seeing how children have been placed in reading levels.

The goal for Whitewater is to greatly increase literacy and get everyone reading books, and the organization hopes that there will be a great improvement in this in about two years of running this book service. To learn more or to donate, check out their website at Whitewater-leads.org.