Beginning in January 2010, the Dolly Parton Imagination Library will begin shipping soft cover books to children ages 2 - 5.
Younger children will continue to receive board books.
The Imagination Library estimates the change will result in a 18%-20% reduction in costs to local partners like United Way of Olmsted County.
The inclusion of the soft cover books anticipates major changes in the USPS postal rates for items like books. These changes will classify books as parcels incurring higher mailing rates. Not only does this change avoid substantial rate hikes in the future, it brings significant reduction in current expenses for mailing and books.
The books will have the same interior pages and the new covers will retain the same color quality and clarity as the old covers. The flexibility should reduce some of the damage that has occurred in the past with the more rigid covers.
In November, 5,949 books were shipped to Olmsted County children at a cost of $13,623.21. In 2009, the total cost of the Imagination Library in Olmsted County was $154, 429.47.
The Imagination Library is one of our major investments in early childhood . Our own local research has tracked with other local and national findings of the benefits of providing children access to books early in life in general and the positive impacts of the Imagination Library in particular.
The program was immediately popular with parents, volunteers, and donors. Even without the data, they all knew it just made sense. Since its launch in June 2006, over 172,000 books have been delivered to registered children.
The Imagination Library is available through us to any child under five residing in Olmsted County and registered by a parent or guardian. With this reduction in costs, we will be able to achieve our 2010 growth targets at a cost below that of 2009. That’s a good thing.
We hope to reach 75% of the eligible children by 2015.
between 10 a.m. -1 p.m. Coats of all sizes are needed, especially infant, toddler and youth sizes.
On August 7th & 8th, volunteers will be in The Salvation Army parking lot next to Kmart, 201 9th St. SE, collecting school supplies at the annual 
If you are done collecting, feel free to drop off your school supplies at the event. Alex from Y105 KYBA will broadcast live announcements. Bring your collection and get your group mentioned on the radio!
