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LORETTO -- Saint Francis University has partnered with State Rep. Frank Burns and the Dollywood Foundation to make the Dolly Parton Imagination Library available to children in Cambria County from birth to age 5.
To date, more than 1,300 local children have enrolled in the Imagination Library. Given that there are more than 6,000 eligible children in Cambria County, this program needs financial support from the community to grow and become sustainable.
For a donation of $26, residents can provide one book per month to a child for a year, while $127 will cover that same child for 5 years in the program. Every dollar raised supports placing a book in a child's hands since the university takes no administrative fees for managing the program.
Exposure to reading during the early years is crucial to a child's brain development and is proven to improve their literacy skills.
"Research has shown that students who had participated in Imagination Library demonstrated stronger reading skills and performed better on kindergarten readiness measures as opposed to those who had not," said Melissa Peppetti, director of the university's graduate education program.
"Having a solid foundation in early literacy skills is critical to children's future reading performance."
There are several ways to donate to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library in Cambria County and help ensure that every child experiences the joy and opportunity that reading provides:
n Send your gift by mail to: Saint Francis University -- Office of Advancement, P.O. Box 600, Loretto, PA 15940.
n Make your gift online by going to www.francis.edu/DollyParton.
n Call the university's Office of Advancement at 814-472-3021 and make your gift over the telephone by credit card.