A new nonprofit organization is helping to bring books to Orange County’s youngest residents.
Orange County Books and Beyond (OCBB) was formed to serve as the local nonprofit sponsor for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Orange County. Parton’s program was created to foster a love of reading among preschool children and their families. It began in 1995 in East Tennessee and has expanded throughout the United States as well as Canada, the UK and Australia. The program mails high-quality, age appropriate books directly to the homes of registered children. Children up to age 5 are eligible. Today, the program sends more than one million books to children around the world each month.
The Imagination Library partners with local affiliates and partners who help bring the program to their area. The local affiliate is responsible for enrolling children in their chosen coverage area, promoting the program and providing the funds to cover the cost of books and shipping fees. Due to wholesale pricing negotiated by the Imagination Library, the affiliate pays only $2.60 per child per month.
Orange County Books and Beyond is a 501(c)(3) organization and will be the first Imagination Library affiliate to serve Orange County and the surrounding immediate area. Other localities in Virginia participate, but up until now Orange County hasn’t had a sponsoring organization to bring the program to the county.
“We chose to join this program because early literacy is the foundation of the entire education pipeline,” OCBB’s Deanne Marshall said. “Access to books in the home during the earliest years supports language development, school readiness and long-term academic success. This program reaches children before they ever enter a classroom and supports parents and caregivers as a child’s first teachers.”
Marshall said funding is a critical factor in launching the program locally. Utilizing the Imagination Library’s calculator, which takes into account the population of children in the chosen area ages 5 and under according to Census data, serving all children 5 and under in Orange County is estimated to cost approximately $40,000 annually. The 2023 Census Five-Year Estimates have 2,177 children ages 0-5 in the county.
“That is the long-term goal,” Marshall said. “At this initial launch phase, we are focused on securing founding donors and annual contributing community partners so the program can begin and grow substantially.”
Early support for the program has already been received from the Orange Rotary Club and the Orange County Education Foundation with each contributing $2,000 as founding donors and community partners. Marshall said additional funding is needed before enrollment can open. She hopes to begin enrolling children within the next month which is contingent upon securing the funding needed to officially launch the program.
“We want to ensure that once families sign up, the program is financially stable and books can be delivered without interruption,” Marshall said.
Community members, businesses, civic organizations and churches can get involved by becoming founding donors, annual contributors or child sponsors. A child can be sponsored for as little as $20. Folks can also help by spreading the word to other families and community partners and families can sign up their children at no cost once enrollment begins.
Donations and inquiries can be sent to Orange County Books and Beyond, P.O. Box 183, Orange, VA 22960. The organization can also be reached via email at ocbooksandbeyond@gmail.com.
