Humble Rotary supports early childhood literacy through Imagination Library
By Melanie Feuk | Posted 21 hours ago
With the new school year fast approaching, the Humble Rotary is proud to continue providing a pre-school literacy program that helps promote early childhood reading, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
The Imagination Library provides a child from birth to the age of 5 years old with an age-appropriate book every month.
“The Humble Rotary adopted the Lakeland Elementary School area and we wanted to make sure we’re putting books into the houses of the children in the area we support,” Pam McNair, president of Humble Rotary, said. “With school starting, we’ll be sending home flyers with students and informing families through the school about this opportunity.”
The Humble Rotary has partnered with Dolly Parton since last year to provide this service to children in the Lakeland Elementary School area in Humble. For $25 annually per child enrolled, Humble Rotary now sponsors the memberships of more than 60 children benefiting from the program.
“This is a wonderful program,” McNair said. “Humble Rotary wanted to be involved in literacy and there is nothing better than to partner with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. It’s a respected program and we are more than happy to be a part of it. “Statistics show that children with books in their house have a higher rate of graduating. A child, who has 60 books by the time they start school, has a nearly 100 percent chance of graduating from high school. That is the purpose of the Imagination Library; to get books into the home to increase the literacy rate and up the chance of graduating.”
Ivan Butterfield, community service literacy chair of Rotary district 5890, is an avid proponent of the Imagination Library. He expands on the importance of introducing young children to literature.“Some neurologists are now urging parents to start reading to their children from birth,” Butterfield said. “This helps the child build a foundation for future learning. If a child is not exposed to books by the time they are 3 to 5 years old, studies show when they enter school, they have a great possibility of not reading at grade level by third grade and if a child is not at grade level by third grade, they are much more likely to drop out before graduation.
“A parent is a child’s first teacher. To take just minutes a day reading with a child develops multiple different skill sets. Those sets are the foundation of learning and that is what the Imagination Library strives to provide.”
For more information about Humble Rotary visit www.humblerotary.com
To learn more about Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library visit www.imaginationlibrary.com.
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