{"id":272159,"date":"2026-08-25T22:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T22:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272159\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T22:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T22:24:09","slug":"dolly-partons-imagination-library-has-benefitted-lackawanna-county-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/272159\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has benefitted Lackawanna County children"},"content":{"rendered":"

The administrator of Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library in Lackawanna County will always love the late country music star for her contributions to children\u2019s literature.<\/p>\n

Parton, who died Tuesday at 80 years old, founded the educational nonprofit that gives free books to children ages birth to five years in 1995. Locally, the United Way of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike Counties is a program partner for the nonprofit.<\/p>\n

\"AbingtonAbington Art Studio student, Kelsie Fritch, 14, of Waverly Township, finishes her portrait of Dolly Parton. (TIMES-TRIBUNE FILE)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since it was brought to the area in 2022 by residents Nancy Sarno-De Los Rios and Virginia Paoloni, it has given away nearly 110,000 books, with nearly 3,000 children currently enrolled in the program, and nearly 3,000 children completing the program, Chief Impact Officer Stephanie Miller, who oversees the program in Lackawanna County, said. As the local program sponsor, the United Way pays for all the books, which families register online to receive.<\/p>\n

Initially started in Tennessee, Parton said she founded the nonprofit because her father, who quit school to work on the family farm, struggled to learn to read. It has since grown to the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. Its website states that children in the United States who participated were 11 times more likely to be interested in books and 15 times more likely to join in during shared book reading compared to children not in the program.<\/p>\n

Miller, who has overseen the program for two years, said the program has been positively received by families who receive the books. Administering it is gratifying to bring literacy into households with children, she added.<\/p>\n

\"UnitedUnited Way of Wyoming Valley President and CEO, Bill Jones, announces Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library at the Osterhout Free Library. (WARREN RUDA\/THE CITIZENS VOICE)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get a lot of feedback from the families how much the children love, um, getting the books, because they get it in their name,\u201d Miller said. \u201cAlso the family time that\u2019s coming out of it, that parents or grandparents are sitting down with the children and just reading and talking about different things, it\u2019s really heartwarming.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lackawanna County Library System has supported the Imagination Library program locally at the Storybook Breakfast, a yearly fundraiser where families can have breakfast with costumed characters, with library volunteers helping at the event and providing information packets about the library system.<\/p>\n

Sandy Longo, the system\u2019s executive director, said having a book early on is a good predictor of academic achievement for children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something really special, because children then have the opportunity to interact with print,\u201d she said. \u201cBook ownership is very important in their journey to become emergent readers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller likes that the books are curated and appropriate to a child\u2019s age level. Families don\u2019t need to meet a certain income level to receive them; the only requirement is that they reside in Lackawanna County.<\/p>\n

\"DonnaDonna Jean Yannuzzi, right, administrator of finance for the United Way of Greater Hazleton who helps oversee the local Dolly Parton Imagination Library, met Parton several years ago when the singer performed in Wilkes-Barre. (SUBMITTED)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t be more grateful for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and everything that they\u2019ve done to\u2026raise awareness of literacy, bring families together,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat she\u2019s done for this program has been nothing short of amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the United Way of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike Counties, other local program partners for the Imagination Library locally are the United Way of Greater Hazleton, the United Way of Wyoming Valley and the United Way of Susquehanna County.\n<\/p>\n

In a social media post, Parton\u2019s family asked fans to send donations to Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The administrator of Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library in Lackawanna County will always love the late country music star…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-272159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}