By Kim McDarison
Whitewater Leads, a program aimed at improving literacy among students within the Whitewater Unified School District, held a fundraising banquet in October, proceeds from which, according to information supplied by the group, will be used to purchase books for students and supply teachers with grants to help improve literacy in the classroom.
Those attending the banquet, which was held Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 841 Brewhouse, Whitewater, were treated to a range of activities, including food, drink, and, for the first 50 attendees, door prizes were awarded. The event featured both silent and open auctions.
According to information on the Whitewater Leads website, the nonprofit organization’s mission is “to support literacy, in all diverse forms, throughout and within the boundaries of the Whitewater Unified School District.”
Additionally, the organization lists its goals, which include: providing children and their parents with adequate opportunities to improve child literacy capabilities at an early age, offering families direction to programs within the community pertaining to literacy or Hispanic community improvement, and reaching out to business employees with ways to improve child literacy.
The program, which operates in partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, was begun in Whitewater in 2015, according to information released by the group.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library notes on its website that the program was begun in 1995, with the distribution of books to children living in Sevier County, Tenn., which, the website states, is where Parton grew up. With the success of the program, a national replication effort was undertaken in 2000, with one million books mailed by 2003. Today, the organization mails books “around the world,” according to its website, with efforts launched in Canada in 2006, the United Kingdom in 2007, Australia in 2013, and the Republic of Ireland in 2019.
In a letter to viewers published on the Imagination Library website, Parton wrote: “Before he passed away, my Daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I had ever done.”
Parton noted that she created the library as a tribute to her father, whom she described as “the smartest man I have ever known, but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams.”
She continued: “inspiring kids to love to read became my mission.”
The full letter from Parton is here: https://imaginationlibrary.com/letter-from-dolly/.
According to information supplied by Whitewater Leads, this year, the organization has committed to providing up to five grants of $300-$400 each to teachers looking to improve literacy in preschool to fifth-grade classrooms.
Also this year, the information states, the program is serving some 387 kids who have enrolled in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, and has distributed free of charge some 20,000 books to children throughout the Whitewater Unified School District.
Whitewater Leads board members include: Lisa Dawsey Smith, Stacey Lunsford, Kristin Linzmeier, Lisa Huempfner, Jeff Knight, Larry Kachel, Tom Grosinske, Mary Kilar and Moller Fuller.
Since its inception, the group has been involved with such projects as “Books in Boxes,” “Books on the Bus,” and fundraising events held in 2019 and 2022.
Counted among its goals and achievements, information supplied by the group states: “We have been able to give any child a free book each month from birth to their fifth birthday.”
The cost of supplying books each month for children comes at a yearly cost of $25 per child, the information noted.
Funding for the program is provided through donations and grants, the group stated.
Proceeds raised at the fundraising event held in October will be used to support programming to increase literacy among preschool-aged children to those in the fifth grade within the Whitewater Unified School District.
To learn more about Whitewater Leads, visit: https://whitewater-leads.org.
To learn more about Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, visit: https://imaginationlibrary.com.
Unsplash.com/ Ben Griffiths
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