The Rotary Club of Iola is sounding the alarm over a concerning drop in participation in one of its service projects — Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a program that once saw strong local support but is now experiencing a steady decline in enrollment across Allen County.
Introduced in 2020 by Rotary in partnership with the Greenbush Education Service Center, the Imagination Library mails free, high-quality books each month to children age 5 and younger.
The goal is simple yet powerful: to foster a love of reading from the earliest years of a child’s life.
But despite a strong start, current enrollment numbers are waning.
“As of March 5, there are 10 children in the Elsmore area who are enrolled in the program out of the 15 who are eligible,” said Gena Allen, who coordinates the program for Allen County.
“In Humboldt, there are 204 children eligible for the program, but only 97 are enrolled. Of the 414 children who are eligible in Iola, there are 219 enrolled. In Savonburg, 7 of the 13 eligible children are enrolled.”
MORAN is the lone outlier, with 40 children enrolled — despite only 19 being eligible.
“That’s where we believe grandparents or aunts and uncles are enrolling kids,” said Allen, a practice she discouraged. “It’s taking your money away from Allen County because those children probably don’t live in Allen County. Grandparents may like to have the books for when their grandchildren visit them.”
Enrollment trends have shifted significantly since the early years of the program.
“For the past two years of the program in the county, there would be anywhere from 10 to 20 new enrollees into the program each week,” Allen said. “For the last three or four months, I’ve had maybe two. It’s way down in enrollment.”
Rotarian Judy Brigham echoed the concern, especially regarding the youngest children. “That’s where we are really missing in our enrollment numbers — the 0 to 2 year olds,” she said. Brigham recalled a time when early childhood groups and preschools actively promoted the initiative. “We had a very active early childhood group headed up by Beth Toland at one point,” she said. “It was great — she had preschools involved.”
WHEN THE program launched locally, Rotary Club took charge of funding while Greenbush oversaw enrollment logistics. Meanwhile, organizations like Parents As Teachers (PAT) were expected to spread awareness. PAT continues to enroll children automatically when families sign up, but Allen noted that recruiting families for PAT in Iola has been challenging.
“We are needing families,” she said. “We have 12 openings for families in Iola.”
Even logistics have proven tricky. Brigham mentioned that some books aren’t delivered and are held at the post office — sometimes never reaching the children they’re meant for.
“Our Iola post office has been a little hesitant to allow us to collect those books that aren’t forwarded,” she said.
Allen noted other area post offices allow educators to collect undelivered books for redistribution. “It’s a shame if those books can’t be redistributed,” said Brigham.
