Free books available for kids

Lifeline, UWLC also share in providing through expanded initiative

Expanding on an initiative started in 2020, families with children throughout Lake County can now receive books mailed to their homes for free, thanks to Lifeline, Inc., United Way of Lake County, and both Gov. Mike DeWine and Country singer Dolly Parton.

Children younger than 5 obtain brand-new, high-quality, ageappropriate books from Parton’s Imagination Library. Once signed up, they’ll have one book sent to them each month until they turn 5.

“We’re so excited to join partners throughout Lake County, as well as with the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library,” said Carrie Dotson, executive director at Lifeline. “We’ve set a goal of enrolling at least 25 to 30 percent of Lake County’s children this calendar year and we’re really excited to see our enrollment numbers climb — over 1,250 children have already been registered.

“We’ve set a goal of enrolling at least 25 to 30 percent of Lake County’s children this calendar year and we’re really excited to see our enrollment numbers climb — over 1,250 children have already been registered.” — Carrie Dotson, executive director at Lifeline

“On the flip side of that, buying books for several thousand children each month is a daunting task, so we also have an aggressive giving campaign to help us pay for the books and we welcome the support of the community,” she added. “A $25 gift to Lifeline’s Imagination Library project will provide 12 free books to two Lake County children.”

According to the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library, by the age of 3, a child’s brain is already 80 percent developed, and by the time a child enters kindergarten, they must already know thousands of words to succeed in the classroom.

Additional research has shown that a child with 25 books in their home complete an average of two additional years of schooling compared to their peers without books in the home.

A report by the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library suggests that there are men and women throughout Ohio who struggle to read food labels, prescription directions and bus schedules — each being one of 36 million American adults who are considered functionally illiterate.

Furthermore, a child who can’t read is four times more likely to drop out of high school before graduation. Ohio’s Future at Work found that in the state of Ohio, 24 percent of adults don’t have a high school diploma.

Additionally, Seeds of Literacy found that 87 percent of the jobs available on OhioMeansJobs.com are closed to someone without a high school diploma, “dramatically reducing the chances of someone who is functionally illiterate finding a job that will give them the independence to support themselves and their families.”

Through programs like the Imagination Library, there is a path out of generational poverty through increased literacy opportunities for children, Dotson noted.

“As a local community action agency, we often work with adults who struggle with functional illiteracy and we know how many challenges that presents for them,” she said. “If we can help prevent that, we’re thrilled to be able to do so.”

United Way of Lake County was also “eager” to spread participation of the Imagination Library to all of Lake County.

“An astounding 52 percent of Lake County children enter kindergarten without the sufficient skills and knowledge needed to engage in kindergarten-level instruction,” said UWLC President and CEO Jennifer McCarty. “This puts them at risk of being left behind throughout school and life. Our goal is to help change these odds, which is why we are proud to help support this program.”

Parton began the Imagination Library in her hometown of Sevier County, Tennessee, in 1995 as a way of encouraging reading and childhood literacy. In the past 25 years, the program has spread across the country and overseas to the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland with the help of local champions.

The Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library was inspired by First Lady Fran DeWine’s passion to improve the lives of Ohio’s children and her own family’s experiences with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

Unlike most of Ohio’s counties, Lake County started the process in “bits and pieces,” Dotson said, adding Kirtland Public Library and Wickliffe Public Library came online to offer the program exclusively to their communities.

Mentor Public Library came on in August 2020 to offer the program to Mentor, Mentor-on-the-Lake and Concord Township residents.

Fran DeWine’s office then reached out to Lifeline to invite the community action agency to cover the rest of Lake County.

“Until we came online, it wasn’t available to more than half of the county’s kids,” Dotson said. “It wasn’t a difficult process to get started, just a lot of paperwork, staff database management training and then ordering all of the promo materials, etc. And then I began actively fundraising to actually pay for the books — UWLC was the first to jump on board and fund the initial seed money.

“We launched quietly in late October 2020, but knew we wanted to wait until after the holidays to do a big public launch so that people didn’t get it confused with a holiday assistance program.”

Families can register to receive books at www.lclifeline.org/imagination-library/ by clicking the “Enroll Today” button or by contacting program coordinator Heather Riser at Lifeline at 440-354-2148.