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Vicki Fortino, executive director of United for San Benito (USB), says she heard about the Dolly Parton Imagination Library from Linda Smith, superintendent of the Willow Grove Elementary School District. Smith told Fortino USB would be a good fit to host the program in the county, and Fortino immediately knew her board of directors would be excited about it.
“I think my board would be all over this,” Fortino recalls telling Smith. “It fits squarely within our childhood success initiative.”
Starting in the next few weeks, United for San Benito will be hosting the Dolly Parton Imagination Library in the county. The program allows residents to register children between the ages 0-5 for free books every month.
United for San Benito is a nonprofit that works to provide services for at-risk children, seniors, families in need and disabled people. And as Fortino predicted, her board voted unanimously in favor of hosting Dolly’s library. When a representative from the Imagination Library gave a talk with board members and potential funders, they signed up for it that day. Early registration for the program began in October, and by December nearly 700 children were registered.
“Our goal was to get books to children for Christmas, and we were able to do that,” Fortino says.
Stephanie Hicks, a board member for United for San Benito, says the program is a great resource for all kinds of families. The program is free, and there are no financial qualifications for it.
“We’re absolutely thrilled and excited by this opportunity,” Hicks said, ”because it falls in line with exactly what our mission is and what our outreach is for the community.”
Fortino and Hicks further emphasized that the program is well-suited for the county.
“Dolly Parton and her team of early childhood development educators hand-pick these books,” Fortino said, “so they’re very well-thought-out. They’re bilingual, so it’s a perfect fit for our community.”
One of United for San Benito’s partners in the project is the San Benito County Office of Education, which is running the registration system. United for San Benito plans to have registration information across the county to reach as many children as possible.
“We’ll have ways to register at the hospital in the maternity ward, libraries can register kids—it’s a simple QR code that goes to a portal,” Fortino says.
Fortino and Hicks say they want United For San Benito to host the program for as long as possible. Their current funding partners have committed for two years, and they are still looking for more.
“We definitely want to grow the funding, “Fortino said, “because our goal is to get every child enrolled.”
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