Jose 'JJ' Balderas
When Autumn Reed joined the Springtown Lions Club, she thought of the organization as something tied mostly to sports. Her perspective changed when she learned the club had taken on a program that resonated with her passion as a teacher: the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.
The reading program, supported by grants and fundraising efforts, mails one free book each month to children from birth until they reach age 5. The mission of the program is to help build home libraries and give parents books they can read with their children before they enter kindergarten.
“This is an awesome opportunity to promote early childhood literacy,” said Reed, who teaches at Goshen Creek Elementary School. “Parents are the very first teachers. Not the pre-K teacher, not the kindergarten teacher — parents.”
When Reed got involved with the Lions Club in 2023, the program was nearing the end of its grant-funded course. Reed was given the option to keep the program or let it end.
As an educator, she decided to take on the challenge of keeping the program going.
Reed said while the program is free for families, it must be locally funded to purchase the books and mail them to families around the area.
To keep the program responsible and sustainable, Reed made a difficult decision to turn off online registration, which had around 250 families on a waitlist. She said she did not want families to sign up and wait months or even years without understanding why books were not arriving.
“I felt like it was a false sense of reality. I don’t want to disappoint anyone,” Reed said.
Through bingo nights, community donations and other fundraisers, the Lions Club has since been able to clear the online waitlist.
While the growth is exciting, it also increases the monthly cost. Reed said the club is looking at about $500 a month to sustain the current number of children.
Despite fundraising challenges, Reed remains passionate about the program as she emphasized the importance of preparing children for school by building early literacy skills.
“If our kindergarteners can come to us and they know how to hold a book — it’s golden,” she said.
“In education in general, when they come to you and they’re not writing their names and lack literacy skills — it’s alarming. Once they start off behind, it continues until they get some kind of intervention opportunity,” Reed said.
Reed has also pursued a grant that, if approved, could cut the local cost of the program in half. She said that would make it easier to reopen online registration without creating another long waitlist.
As she awaits grant approval, Reed said the Springtown Lions Club will continue its fundraising efforts to keep the Dolly Parton Imagination Library accessible for families and support its mission of serving the community.
“There should be a love for reading,” Reed said. “If we can support it as a community, that’s what we’re here for.”
Local businesses, organizations and individuals interested in donating to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program can email Reed at [email protected].
