- April 26, 2024
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When Laura Zublionis' daughter, Ava, was born, one of the first messages she got after posting the birth announcement was an appeal from a friend to register the newborn with the Imagination Library.
She did, and Ava, now 2, has already received 25 free books through the program.
"It's truly a family experience," Zublionis said. "We all sit together in a big chair reading the books."
Zublionis was one of several dozen community members to show up at Bunnell Elementary School on Friday evening to celebrate the third anniversary of the Flagler Chapter of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, a nonprofit founded by Parton in 1996 that sends registered children under the age of 5 a free, age-appropriate book each month.
Zublionis' said the moment the books arrive in the mail is always a special one for her family. "The whole family gets so excited," she said. "We open the mailbox and they're jumping up and down."
The Flagler County branch of the Imagination Library was created three years ago as a community service project by students in the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Flagler class, Palm Coast resident J.B. Birney said in an address at the event, and now has 580 registered children.
Kristen Weitzel’s children Reef, 3, and Riley, 5, both receive books through the Imagination Library. The books are mailed out to individual registered children, she said, but they can reach many more.
“These are families of two kids, three kids, four kids,” she said. “The reach is immense.” And the children reading books through Imagination Library today might read those same books to their children in 20-some years, she said. “I have books that my mom had when she was a kid, and they’re 50 years old,” she said. “The number of kids these books could affect — it’s immeasurable.”
To register a child with the Imagination Library, call 437-8236 or visit www.FlaglerImaginationLibrary.org.
