The Ellis County Dolly Parton Imagination Library will host a 5K and/or 1-mile “Run for Reading” on Saturday, Sept. 20.
All proceeds go to support the Ellis County Dolly Parton Imagination Library.
The Run/Walk is open to all ages. Entry fee for individuals is $15 to pre-register by September 12, or $20 the day of the race. Entry fee for families is $25 to pre-register and $30 the day of the race. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. in the Public Parking Lot behind the Hays Public Library on 12th Street. The run/walk will begin at 8:30 a.m.
Entry forms can be printed from www.haysparents.com. Applications can be picked up at Eagle Communications (inside the Vine Street Dillons), the Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Hays Public Library or the USD 489 administrative office.
Completed forms should be dropped off at or mailed to Rae Smith, 323 W. 12th, Hays, KS 67601.
The early deadline, which has been extended to 4 p.m. Friday, includes one free T-shirt, although enrollments are welcome until the time of the race.
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The Ellis County Dolly Parton Imagination Library provides opportunities for shared reading and development of pre-literacy skills for all children 5 and under by providing a free, age-appropriate book in the mail each month. There is no fee for parents to enroll their child. Nearly 900 Ellis County children have received books since inception in the Fall of 2012.
In 1996, Dolly Parton launched an exciting new effort, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, to benefit the children of her home county in East Tennessee. Dolly’s vision was to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families by providing them with the gift of a specially selected book each month. By mailing high quality, age-appropriate books directly to their homes, she wanted children to be excited about reading and to feel the magic that books can create.
Moreover, she could insure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income. Dolly’s Imagination Library became so popular that in the year 2000 she announced that she would make the program available to any community that was willing to partner with her to support it locally.
Since the initial program launch in the United States, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has gone from just a few dozen books to nearly 40,000,000 books mailed to children. Currently over 1600 local communities provide the Imagination Library to almost 700,000 children each and every month. Already statistics and independent reports have shown Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library drastically improves early childhood literacy for children enrolled in the program. Further studies have shown improved scores during early literacy testing.
For more information about the Dolly Parton Imagination Library or the Run for Reading contact Rae Smith or Dana Stanton at 785-623-2400.