Needs From: United Way of Addison County

Addison County Readers is seeking a volunteer to create and send out our quarterly e-newsletter to the parents of children who are enrolled in Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. The newsletter helps us build connections and keep participating families in the loop about ACR events and news from the Imagination Library. We will supply content and an email list, but need a tech savvy person familiar with an online e-newsletter platform who can put it together and send it out. 

Currently close to 1,000 children (2 out of 3 Addison County preschoolers) are participating in Dolly Parton's Imagination Library and receiving a free book that is mailed to their home each month. Parents tell us how much their children value the program; some families report that the Imagination Library is the primary source for their children of books in their home.

Children who read and are read to from the earliest age build a foundation for literacy that lasts a lifetime. Volunteers are needed to help Addison County Readers make sure that the program is available to all county children. 

Please consider joining us as a Recruitment and Advocacy Volunteer.  How you can help:

Make sure that family members, friends and neighbors with preschool children know about the Imagination Library.

Contact programs in your community that serve young children and ask them to share information about the program with parents.

Talk up the program.  Post information about the Imagination Library program in places your town where people congregate.

Addison County Readers has recruitment materials that can help you get started.

Volunteers are needed to be a part of our board for Addison County Readers (ACR). The primary focus of ACR is its sponsorship of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, a program that mails free monthly books to the homes of close to 1,000 children in Addison County, 0-5 years of age.

Responsibilities of Board Members include attending monthly meetings and supporting the implementation of this volunteer-run program. Additional duties are advocacy of the program, recruitment of children in Addison County, fundraising, and publicity.

Our Board

We believe in the transformative power of books.

We believe that children who read and are read to at home from the earliest age build a foundation for literacy that lasts a lifetime.

Most of us are parents.  Many of us are grand-parents.

Some of us have a background in education, literature, or libraries.

But all of us at Addison County Readers are delighted to be associated with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.  

Please consider joining us as a volunteer!

Addison County Readers is an all-volunteer organization. As the local sponsor of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library,  we raise money to pay for the 12,000 free books that are sent to children each year.  The cost of these books and their mailing is approximately $30.000 per child per year.  Funding comes from local organizations and businesses, grants and individual donations, and the contributions of towns in Addison County.  Volunteers are needed to help us with fund raising activities.

How you can help:

Tell others about the Imagination Library and let them know that even a small donation will help support the program:

         $30 provides one child with 12 books for a year

         $150 provides one child with 60 books over 5 years (birth to age 5)

         $300 supports10 children for a year: 12 monthly books for each child, a total of 120 books.

Work with other volunteers on yearly fund raising efforts: grant writing, letters to donors, requests to businesses and service organizations, and participation in community outreach events.