Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library leaves lasting impact in Cape Girardeau

KBSI FOX23 News at 9 p.m.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) — Books distributed through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library are still making their way through local families and stores in Cape Girardeau.

Zach Johnson, manager of Once Upon a Child in Cape Girardeau, said customers regularly sell used books back to the store, including books their children received through Parton’s Imagination Library.

Johnson said the program was one of many ways Parton supported children and communities across the country.

“One of the amazing programs that she did, amongst the many things that she did for the community, amongst kids and the nation, is give a lot of books out for free,” Johnson said.

The Imagination Library began in Tennessee before expanding across the United States. The program sends free books directly to children.

Johnson said he also saw the program’s impact in his own family.

“With my kids every month, they have really looked forward to these books coming to the mailbox,” Johnson said. “And it just was really an incredible thing that she was doing.”

He said Parton’s work helped encourage reading and improve access to books for families.

“She did a whole lot for the literacy rates here in America,” Johnson said. “So that’s just one thing I would really want everyone to take away from her.”

Johnson said Parton’s legacy reaches beyond entertainment and includes the way she used her platform to help others.

“I think the main thing is just to be a part of a team as a nation, and to be able to come around one another and help one another out like she did,” Johnson said.

At Once Upon a Child, some of the books first mailed to children through the program are now finding new homes with other local families.