Reading Program for Cass County Indiana Imagination Library

“All Aboard with Reading Railroad and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library”

The Reading Railroad is pleased to announce that it has coordinated a community effort to get books to Cass County newborn children during their first 5 years of life. Many thanks to the Milton Cole Family for providing the funds for the Dolly Parton “Imagination Library” to come to Cass County!The Reading Railroad Campaign, which promotes literacy so children can read well by kindergarten and first grade, will be working with Memorial Hospital in this community initiative to help parents and their children “get on board” for reading, beginning the day they are born.

Children born in Cass County will start life with a big educational advantage, thanks to a program made possible by Milton Cole. The Cole family has made a generous donation that will enable all area children to receive an age-appropriate book in the mail every month from birth to age five.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is all about inspiration and imagination. In 1995 Dolly developed the program so that every preschool child in her home of Sevier County, Tennessee, would have their own library of books. This program was so successful and generated such interest from across the country, that Dolly decided to offer her Imagination Library in any community that will support it.

Each month, from the day a child is born until his/her 5th birthday, a carefully selected book arrives in the mail. Dolly Parton’s, Imagination Library is not a charity or a social service -- it is a gift to all preschoolers in a community. “When the Reading Railroad folks approached us with this, it seemed like a perfect fit for a gift from our family to the community, because it touches every corner of Cass County, and it affects our youngest residents, thus providing a lifelong benefit to them and to all of us,” said Milton Cole.

Patty Brown, Program Director of Reading Railroad, comments that: “Learning to read is a process, much like learning to speak or learning to walk. This process begins at birth. We know that the early years are vital to brain development. The Dolly Parton Imagination Library complements the Cass County Reading Railroad initiative. Through the generosity of the Cole Family, all Cass County newborns will receive a gift book each month. It is really the gift of reading. Parents will be provided an opportunity in their role as their child’s first teacher. Children will learn the love and excitement of books. By getting books into the hands of children, parents can help their child be ready for kindergarten.”

Cass County Reading Railroad will coordinate this literacy program with Memorial Hospital. The local “New Years baby” will be the first child enrolled into the program. “Memorial Hospital is proud to support this effort to help our children achieve their full potential,” said Brian T. Shockney, MHA, CHE, President & CEO of Memorial Hospital. “A child’s brain develops at a very rapid rate in the early formative years, and providing books to every newborn in Cass County says a lot about our community and its commitment to education and the overall well-being of our families,” he said.

“We were pleased to have the opportunity to work together with Julie Lauck of Logansport Community Schools, Mike Meagher of Area Five Agency on Aging & Community Services, and Brian Shockney of Memorial Hospital in a truly win-win situation,” said Joyce Gebhardt, executive director for the United Way of Cass County, which oversees the Reading Railroad Campaign. “Because they saw the opportunity to benefit every child born in Cass County, they wanted to be here to show their support for the Imagination Library and because of this generous gift, a gift with lasting effects on the community, the Reading Railroad will be able to claim a dollar for dollar match in the amount of $24,500 from the Indiana Association of United Ways for the 4Community matching program.” To date, the United Way has raised and claimed its total match of $116,000 for the Reading Railroad program.

For more information, please visit CassCountyReadingRailroad.org or call Patty Brown at (574)753-3533.

A campaign to change lives in Cass County, Indiana by supporting parents as their child's first teacher,
to help them achieve their utmost by Kindergarten and first grade.