“There’s something about seeing your kids get those books. It’s so special.”
~ First Lady Fran DeWine
That, in a nutshell, captures First Lady DeWine’s passion for the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library, which partners with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. To promote the program, the First Lady visited the YMCA Early Learning Center, housed at the Discovery Center, 1973 W. State Route 47, Bellefontaine.
While there Friday, she read a 53-year-old classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, to the small group of preschoolers.
First Lady DeWine asked the children for help reading the book, to which one boy responded, “I don’t know words.”
“But you know pictures,” she said.
The boy jumped up. “Yeah, I do!”
“It’s fun to read to children and bring attention to the whole program,” DeWine later said. “Statewide, we have 50 percent of children under 5 signed up. It’s absolutely free to families. And they tell us all the great family things that happen just from having these books.”
The Imagination Library sends one free book a month to anyone from birth to 5 who is signed up. Each book is carefully selected and mailed directly to the child. This program has been available to kids in the area since it was brought here in 2016 by the United Way of Logan County (UWLC).
“We haven’t had to lift a finger to raise a dime since 2016,” according to UWLC director Dave Bezusko. “It just pours in.”
Logan County is fourth in the state for program participation, with 59 percent of the eligible population (children under five) currently enrolled. Local children have received 117,000 books since 2016 at a cost of over $150,000.
Half of that has been covered by the Imagination Library of Ohio since 2019.
“In October, 1,834 kids will get books in Logan County,” Bezusko said. “And over 2,000 kids have ‘graduated out’ of the program after turning 5.”
Last fall, a study conducted within the area elementary schools revealed that Logan County kindergarteners who received Imagination Library books as preschoolers tested 21 percent higher on their kindergarten assessments than students who did not.
To find out how you can get involved—or to sign up a child in your life — visit OhioImaginationLibrary.org.
