![]() In 2018, Country Dairy generously offered to match up to $5,000 in donations for children enrolled in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library Program that live in Oceana County. We are so grateful for the support of those who understand the importance of having this program in our community! In 2017, Nichols generously offered to match up to $25,000 in donations during March is Reading month, raising nearly $50,000 to expand the program! In 2018, Nichols generously offered another match - up to $35,000! Thank you, Nichols, for your continued commitment to our littlest learners. With their help, we were able to start a pilot program for children age birth to five in Holton and Muskegon Heights. A grant from the Muskegon County Great Start Collaborative rounded out the initial funding to get the Library up and running. This generous donation was also used to help establish the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program. The Morgenstern children and grandchildren made a donation to United Way of the Lakeshore in honor of Richard and Nancy Morgenstern as a Christmas gift that same year. She chose United Way of the Lakeshore, using the funds to help launch the Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program in our community. Johnson Award for Community Leadership and Innovative Grantmaking in 2014, which included an Impact Grant from the foundation to the nonprofit of her choice. Thanks to generous donors like Kathy Evans, the Morgenstern Family, the Muskegon County Great Start Collaborative, Country Dairy, and all those who donated through the Nichols "Matching in March" campaign, we are able to bring this wonderful program to families in Muskegon and Oceana counties. Through funding by generous donors and facilitated by the United Way of Lakeshore, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is available in our community. Local affiliates of the Imagination Library have three responsibilities: to pay for the cost of the books, to register the children in their area, and to manage the local database. To make this possible, the cost of the books and mailing (approximately $2.00 per month or $25.00 annually) is covered by local funding. They will be matching up to $35,000! This program is free to families with young children in our community. Help us get books in the hands of more young readers! Make a donation today to have it matched by a generous gift from local business and community leader Nichols. ![]() ![]() Sponsor one of over 6,000 children in Muskegon & Oceana Counties. ![]() Give the love of reading to a child in your community. Imagine every child having their own library of 60 books by the time they go to kindergarten! View Survey Results From Previous Year! The single most significant factor influencing a child’s early educational success is an introduction to books and being read to at home prior to beginning school. Each month, every registered child receives a free, high-quality, age-appropriate book through the mail, continuing until the child turns five years old. How it works: ALL children under the age of five residing in Muskegon, Newaygo, or Oceana Counties are eligible to participate. It is a FREE GIFT, made possible by generous donations to United Way of the Lakeshore. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library makes reading exciting and fun for your children! Each month a new, carefully selected book will be mailed in your child’s name directly to your home, with no cost or obligation to your family. This initiative is now a national and global program managed by the Dollywood Foundation and brought to our local community by United Way of the Lakeshore. She wanted children to be excited about books and feel the magic that books can create, and to ensure that every child would have access to quality books, regardless of their family’s income. Her dream was to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families by providing them with the gift of a specially selected book each month. In 1995, Dolly Parton launched an exciting initiative to benefit the children of her home county in East Tennessee. What is the Dolly Parton's Imagination Library Program (DPIL)?
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