A little steam engine had a long train of cars to pull.  She went along very well until she came to a steep hill.  But then, no matter how hard she tried, she could not move the long train of cars.

Perhaps you know what that’s like, to reach an obstacle you can’t seem to surmount.

For Dolly Parton’s dad, one of those obstacles was his inability to read.  

“He was the smartest man I have ever known, but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams,” she wrote.

The singer-songwriter didn’t want illiteracy to keep others from succeeding, so she did something about it.  In 1995 she started a free book gifting program and sent the children in her East Tennessee community a new book each month.  

As the program gained traction, it rolled out across the entire country; in 2006, it expanded to other English-speaking countries.  Today, well over two million kids are enrolled.

“Of course, I have not done this alone.  The real heroes of our story are the thousands of local organizations who have embraced my dream and made it their own.  They raise millions of dollars each year and wake up every day with a passion to make sure their kids have every opportunity to succeed,” Parton wrote.

Today, we can find such heroes right here in Kalona.  The Kalona Public Library Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, has become a local affiliate of the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, the first in Washington County.  Thanks to their efforts, and the financial support of the local community, children ages 0-5 who live within the 52247 zip code are now eligible to sign up for the program, which mails a new book each month to kids until they turn 5, free of charge.

The idea was brought to the KPL Foundation last fall by new member Shirley Harland, who saw firsthand how much her grandchildren enjoyed the program.

“My grandkids live in the Quad City area, and I would go over and visit them about every two weeks,” she says.  “Every time I would go over, they’d say, ‘Grandma, we’ve got new books!’ Each would receive a new book each month from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.  As we sat down and read the stories, I was always thinking, what neat, creative, fun ideas.”

“Then when I returned home, I knew other people with toddlers.  I looked up the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library website, and I saw that it wasn’t available in Kalona,” Harland says.  “I thought, that’s too bad, we can’t get it here.”

When Harland joined the KPL Foundation late last summer, it was one of the first ideas she threw out for something new to try.  To her surprise, the library staff and other board members were enthusiastic about it and moved forward on trying to make it happen.

“We realized that, basically, it takes a nonprofit entity like the Kalona Library to facilitate taking in donations from the people, the supporters, the businesses, the community clubs, and everyone who wants to make this happen,” she explains. “We collect the donations and then we connect ourselves with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.  The parents can sign up their kids, we will be invoiced for all the books that go out, and then we’re able to pay for those books through the donations that come in.  It’s just a win-win for everyone.”     

As the local affiliate, the KPL Foundation will pay $2.20 per child per month towards wholesale books and mailing costs, on average.  Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library covers all overhead and administrative expenses, selects the books, and coordinates the monthly book order and fulfillment.  

If all 300 of the children ages 0-5 in the 52247 zip code signed up, the foundation’s cost would be $7920 a year.  

The amount of support from the community has already been impressive.  Proceeds from the Kalona Rotary’s Omelet Breakfast on May 13 will go toward funding the Imagination Library; the City of Kalona has committed $2000 toward the project; and the Kalona Optimist Club has committed $500.  A host of other businesses and individuals are supporting the project, including JW’s Foods, Farmer’s Hen House, Kalona SuperNaturals, Milton Creamery, Cheryl’s Salsa, Hills Bank, Kalona Coffee House, and Kim Bowlin, all of which make sizable donations of goods for the Omelet Breakfast.

Because this endeavor requires an ongoing commitment, the KPL Foundation needs to secure funding both now and in the future.  Harland points out that supporting literacy in the community is so meaningful and will have such an ongoing impact, folks might consider making more sizable donations as a memorial gift when someone passes away, or as part of their estate planning.

KPL Foundation president Valli Ruggiero is especially grateful for the community support from “the Rotary and the City and the other people that are supporting the program.  We really are, because without their help, we couldn’t do any of this,” she says.

“It’s a unique opportunity,” she adds.  “The foundation is really happy to have a part in bringing something like this to the 52247 area.”

Ruggiero also hopes that in time, children outside of the Kalona zip code will also be eligible for free books every month for the first years of their lives; as she acknowledges, “The Kalona Public Library actually serves Riverside.  I know they aren’t in 52247.  A lot of the patrons of the Kalona Library aren’t within the city limits of Kalona.”

“We decided to [start] with 52247 to see how that goes, get it off the ground, and then try to expand it or work with libraries and neighboring cities to help them get it started,” she explains.

One of the things that Ruggiero especially likes about the program is the range of books that Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library sends out to children.  Each is chosen to be age-appropriate, and titles vary from classics that parents and grandparents enjoyed as children, such as “The Snowy Day,” and “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” to newly published books.  No matter what a child’s age when they start the program, everyone receives “The Little Engine That Could” as their first book.

What library director Trevor Sherping appreciates about the program is that, aside from living within the 52247 zip code and being under 5 years old, there are no restrictions on who can participate in the program.  

“I love that it’s not restrictive,” he says.  “It’s available to everybody, just like the library.”

That means that household income is irrelevant, as is the number of children in a household; every child can receive their own books.  

The timeline for when books will officially begin being mailed out is still undetermined, but Sherping estimates later this summer.  The expectation, he says, is for the library to have paper forms available to fill out to sign up for the program, and also for sign-up to be available on the library’s website.  

For those wishing to enroll their children immediately while it’s on their minds, as well as those who would like to make a financial donation to the program, inquire at the Kalona Public Library.

As for our little steam engine, you know how the story ends.  

Slowly the cars began to move.  Slowly they climbed the steep hill.  As they climbed, each little steam engine began to sing: “I think I can!  I think I can!”  

And they did.  Very soon they were over the hill and going down the other side.