Charlotte County Imagination Library<\/a> became a reality.<\/p>\n\u201cShe was always proud when someone was willing and able to start a program,\u201d Gilstad said of Parton.<\/p>\n
Books began arriving each month to families throughout the community.<\/p>\n
When a family signs a child up, they get a book each month until they reach the age of 5. The books are the child\u2019s own. Hundreds signed up, then thousands.<\/p>\n
According to Gilstad, as of 2026, the Charlotte County affiliate has mailed 267,027 books to local families.<\/p>\n
He said nearly 13,000 children have graduated from the program so far.<\/p>\n
Although Parton could not visit each of the affiliate programs in person, Gilstad said she would support them whenever possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe would give media statements when needed, and she would give autographed items for donors,\u201d Gilstad said. \u201cShe always knew she would not be around forever. She wanted us to be strong and be able to run it independently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilstad said Parton inspired him to contribute to his new community in Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe inspired me to be a better person, to do the right thing, to help people and to run Imagination Library,\u201d Gilstad said. \u201cShe inspired all of us to dream, and she believed that every person who works hard enough toward it can achieve it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilstad said he was in tears Tuesday when he heard the news that Parton died.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m completely heartbroken; a piece of me is gone,\u201d Gilstad said. \u201cI was supposed to see Dolly in December at New York. I haven\u2019t seen her since July.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilstad will continue operation of the library.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe cared about every one of us and all the programs,\u201d Gilstad said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to keep going and keep dreaming like she\u2019d want us to. We will do the best we can to keep her legacy and dream alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information about Charlotte County Imagination Library and the Gilstad Literary Foundation, visit:<\/p>\n
charlottecountyimaginationlibrary.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PORT CHARLOTTE \u2014 Dolly Parton left a legacy that embodied much more than music, including an inspiration for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,853,78462,153014,152899],"class_list":["post-381245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-charlotte-county","tag-dolly-parton","tag-dolly-partons-imagination-library","tag-imagination-library"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}