Tennessee General Assembly passes resolution honoring Dolly Parton
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — The Tennessee General Assembly has passed a resolution to honor Dolly Parton.
On Monday the General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution honoring Dolly Parton for her contributions to children's literacy. The resolution states that it is meant, "To recognize and honor beloved Tennessean and cultural icon Dolly Parton for her contributions to children's literacy."
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library provides free books to children from birth to the age of five. The project is funded by Dolly Parton and local community partners wherever her books are distributed.
The project originated in Dolly's home county, Sevier County, in 1995 but has since grown to provide books to children in communities as far away as Ireland and Australia.
Dolly is a well known champion for literacy, explaining on the Imagination Library website that "Before he passed away, my Daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I had ever done. I can't tell you how much that meant to me because I created the Imagination Library as a tribute to my Daddy. 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."
Dolly continued on to say, "Inspiring kids to love to read became my mission. In the beginning, my hope was simply to inspire the children in my home county but here we are today with a worldwide program that gives a book a month to well over 1 million children."
If you would like to sign up a child in your life to receive books you can find the form here.
