Parents and children gathered at the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library Tuesday to celebrate Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library — a program that introduces and promotes reading for the very young.

“It’s an amazing gift (of a book) that children get in their mailbox once a month,” United Way of West Central Mississippi Executive Director Michele Connelly said of the program offered through the United Way.

Connelly said she has been aware of the Imagination Library Parton started in 1995 for some time, but funding had not been available to support it prior to 2024.

“I had always wanted it but never could find anyone who was interested in picking up the funding piece of it,” Connelly said. “And then one day out of the blue, Lynn Foley invited me to breakfast to meet Paige (Payne), who was new to the community.”

Payne, who is the human resource manager at Batesville Manufacturing, asked Connelly why Vicksburg did not have an Imagination Library, and Connelly conveyed to her she had not been able to secure funding.

Payne promptly responded with, “we will,” Connelly said.

“A lot of families don’t have extra money for books and teaching, and I see a need in our community,” Payne said. “Because spending that extra money, if it’s between food or books, books are not going to be what you are buying for your children.”

Connelly said she still gets chills knowing children in the community are benefiting from the Imagination Library thanks to the 100% funding made available through Batesville Manufacturing.

“It’s like you just have to be patient and you just have to wait until it’s supposed to happen,” Connelly said.

As part of the United Way’s Excel by 5 programming, the Imagination Library is geared for children from birth up to age five.

Connelly said there are currently 948 children who are enrolled in the Imagination Library program in Warren County and 329 who have graduated out.

“This means Batesville has touched the lives of 1,277 children and provided more than 16,000 books since it began funding the program over a year ago.”

Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, Dolly Parton started the Imagination Library as a way to foster a love of reading among preschool children in her hometown. It is now a worldwide program that gives a book a month to more than one million children.

For parents in Warren County who are interested in enrolling their preschool child or children, sign-up is available through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library website, imaginationlibrary.com/usa/affiliate/MSVICKSBURG/ or by calling the United Way office, 601-636-1733 for registration forms.

“Forms are also passed out at our local early education centers and for every child that enrolls in our local Head Start programs,” Connelly said. “They are signed up and entered into the United Way’s database.”

In addition to Parton’s Imagination Library, the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library also has a variety of resources that are offered through the Excel by 5 program for both parents and children.

The library is located at 700 Veto St.