Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library expands to Fresno County<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cDolly Parton brought joy to a lot of people, but her legacy goes well beyond her music,\u201d Laird said. \u201cThrough the Imagination Library, she put books into the hands of millions of children and helped give them a love of reading from an early age. She also led with kindness and acceptance, standing by the LGBTQ+ community and reminding people that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laird also highlighted Parton\u2019s ties to the Central Coast, including performing for sold-out crowds at the Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles and spending time over the years at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was no stranger to the Central Coast, from performing for sold-out crowds at the Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles to spending time over the years at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, which, with its one-of-a-kind style and vibrancy, seems like a pretty fitting place for Dolly,\u201d Laird said. \u201cI\u2019m pleased to join Senator Grove and colleagues on both sides of the aisle in establishing 9-2-5 (September 25) as Dolly Parton Day and celebrating a remarkable life that touched so many.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parton is known globally for her music career, but supporters of the bill emphasized her decades of philanthropic work focused on children, education and literacy. Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library provides high-quality books to children from birth to age 5, delivered monthly to their mailbox.<\/p>\n
Grove said she worked alongside then-Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins to bring the Imagination Library statewide in California, expanding access to books for young children and families regardless of income or background. California also became one of the first states in the nation to offer a bilingual English-Spanish book option.<\/p>\n
More than 182,000 California children are enrolled in the Imagination Library, with full coverage in 45 of California\u2019s 58 counties.<\/p>\n
Supporters of SB 931 said the new day of recognition on Sept. 25 is meant to celebrate Parton\u2019s music, philanthropy and her message of dreaming big and giving back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 California lawmakers have moved to set aside Sept. 25 as \u201cDolly Parton Day,\u201d honoring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-453025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}