Inspiring creativity...
Sheyenne Valley Imagination Library turns the pages of local children’s imaginations
It has been over ten years since the Sheyenne Valley Imagination Library (SVIL) began mailing “free” age appropriate books to the children of Barnes County.
The SVIL, part of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, is a book gifting program that mails free books to children from ages- birth to five-years-old.
The country singing legend launched this program in 1995 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and according to the www.imaginationlibrary.com, “Dolly’s vision was to foster a love of reading among her country’s preschool children and their families. The new program gave each child a specially selected book each month. By mailing high quality, age appropriate books directly to their homes, Dolly wanted children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create. Moreover, she could ensure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income.”
The Imagination Library went national in 2000 and it went international in 2006 with Canada on board first followed by the United Kingdom (2007), Australia (2014) and finally Ireland (2019).
That first book order back in 1995 was 1,700. Today, the Imagination Library has 3,068,606 children registered. Since it’s inception, over 245 million books have been gifted. One in ten children in the United States, under the age of five, receive books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The total number of children enrolled in North Dakota is 11,246.
Local champion Mike Watterson, shared with the Times-Record how the Sheyenne Valley Imagination Library got its start here in Valley City. “In 2013 Bob Toso, who used to be the VCPS Superintendent here, came to our Optimist Club meeting from Stutsman County where he was living in Jamestownat the time, and introduced the Imagination Library to us. I called him because my grandkids in Williston were getting these books. He came over, introduced it to the group. Instantly our Optimist Club (Valley City) member were on board so I reached out and contacted the other three local service clubs (Rotary Club, Kiwanis Club and the Lion’s Club). They too, were all on board, and the process began.”
Watterson continues, “The United Way checked in and we started the whole process and we mailed our first book in May of 2014.” That month, SVIL mailed out 38 books. That total is more than six times that now. In 2024 there are 260 kids registered in Barnes County. That is $6750.00 per year.”
The money that is raised by the SVIL pays for the books and the shipping costs. “It works out to be a little over $26 a year for each child to get one book a month,” Watterson said. “We (the SVIL) have to raise somewhere between $5,500 and $6,500 a year in Barnes County (251 children today) to fund that process.”
Watterson explains how the process works to get these books to the children of Barnes County. “The names come to me that are either signed up individually or through City County Health District, Andrea Winter helps with that. She signs a lot of those people up, sends me the information then I sign everybody up and then get the books started in their names.”
From the time these children are born until the reach the age of five, they can expect a book each month. These books are hand-picked by the Dolly Parton Foundation. The first book a child will receive is “The Little Engine That Could.” The last book they receive is “Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come.” Watterson says children are broken down into three groups. “There is a set group of books that are mailed to kids that are from 0-1, there are a set group of books mailed to kids that are from 1-2, and 3 -4 and so on.”
He continues in sharing that since these books are free for the children, they retain the same kids from year to year until they reach the age of five, then they can get a library card. Watterson says there is one caveat to getting these books from SVIL, they need to live in Barnes County. “The only problem we have is if they change addresses. That has to come through me, I have to change the address, it is a very simple procedure,” He said. “Un
fortunately, if they move to Cass County- Cass County decided not to fund their program, so those kids don’t have books from Imagination Library. They (Fargo) do something a little different.” Watterson continues, “But if they go to Stutsman County, all I have to do is hit a button and it transfers them over to Stutsman County.” The towns that SVIL serves is Fingal, Kathryn, Luverne, Nome, Oriska, Pillsbury, Tower City, Valley City, Dazey and Litchville.
The number of kids that the SVIL has served is impressive. As of August of 2024, 559 kids have “graduated” from SVIL. The total number of children served in Barnes County is 989 and the total number of books mailed by SVIL in Barnes County from May of 2014 to August 2024 is 27,530.
The SVIL needs a 501c3 organization to be a financial partner. That partner is VCSU Foundation with Kim Hesch as the contact with the foundation.
With the large cost to keep this organization going and continuing to provide books for kids, it takes money. He adds that the SVIL was just notified last week of something that will help them financially for the next year. “We just got last week, (pausing with excitement) this is amazing, but we got an e-mail from the Dolly Parton Foundation that Doug Burgum and the state of North Dakota is going to have a 50 percent match for funds for twelve months. For us that is a $3,000 bill for 12 months.” This ends at the end of July, 2024.
If you want to help the SVIL, here’s how. To donate online, visit vcsualumni.org and click “Make a Gift Online.” On the page that opens, you’ll find a number of categories to make a donation in, including the Sheyenne Valley Imagination Library. You can also visit Sheyenne Valley Imagination Library on Facebook or contact Mike Watterson, Local Champion, at 701-840-8386 or vcpackerbacker@gmail.com.
Every donation to the Imagination Library goes to help children foster a love of reading—a priceless gift!