When Dolly Parton died on Aug. 25, the world remembered the singer and philanthropist’s impact on music and children; in Gallatin County her legacy continues with successful Imagination Library initiatives in early parenting
By Jen Clancey STAFF WRITER
For a kid, it’s a special feeling to receive a book wrapped in plastic addressed to your name every month. Amie Gatterdam, Gallatin City-County Health Department’s maternal child health services group manager, recalled her own children’s excitement when she signed them up for Imagination Library’s free book program.
“It’s so cool,” she said. “I mean, usually those are the first pieces of mail they’ll get in their life, you know?”
When the founder of Imagination Library, Dolly Parton, died in late August, Gatterdam explained to her kids where those books came from. The nonprofit started by the beloved country singer and philanthropist sends free books to children across the U.S., Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom and Australia each month until their fifth birthday. In Gallatin County, the number of books sent to local kids has grown with the help of Greater Gallatin United Way’s year-old collaboration with the GCCHD and Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital. GGUW recorded 166,090 sent to Gallatin County kids in the last six years.
GGUW, who provides resources to young families across the valley, has seen the most growth in the children they work with between the ages of 0-1 year old, mainly because of a program called Healthy Gallatin Home Visiting. After a family delivers a baby, they can sign up for free home visits, whether they live in Bozeman or across the county in West Yellowstone. During visits, a nurse or family resource worker will assist them with health questions and concerns.
“We can come every other week, all the way up until the child goes to kindergarten, and there’s no cost to the families,” Gotterdam said. “Oftentimes those referrals start at the birth of the baby.”
About a year ago, the home visit teams began asking if parents were signed up for Imagination Library. If the parent was interested, the visiting staff enrolled the child. One year in, Gatterdam has seen how the program improves access to books for families who are busy, living far from resources or for those who don’t have the financial means.
“If you’re a family who maybe only has one vehicle or who is more isolated, who doesn’t live in a community that has a bookstore … you can’t get much closer to your mailbox,” Gatterdam said. She added that the monthly schedule also builds a routine of reading with a parent. Tori Sproles, outreach coordinator at GGUW, shared similar thoughts about its benefits.
“I think it creates an opportunity for parents and children to just engage at a different level and have a medium to do so,” Sproles said. “Kids are excited, families are excited to read the new stories. Overall, it impacts the entire dynamic of their family.”
Finding new ways to reach families
Sproles began wondering how they could get more kids on Imagination Library after she noticed many of the attendees at GGUW events already knew about it.
“But we’re kind of missing those families that might not attend those types of things,” she said. “So when we started working with the City-County Health Department on promoting this during their universal home visits … it drastically increased our numbers of infants receiving books closer to birth.”
Sproles also coordinates with Family Promise of Gallatin Valley to get children enrolled. Kids living in transitional housing can be signed up too, she said, as long as they have a mailing address. At Montana State University’s Master’s of Science in Innovation and Management, students have worked with GGUW for the past four semesters—this year they’ll work on reaching Spanish-speaking families to provide them with bilingual books.
Both Sproles and Gatterdam emphasized how beneficial early literacy is.
“It’s important for all families, regardless of what language they speak, to read to their kiddos and to kind of plant that love of reading as early as possible,” Gatterdam said. She noted that first lady Susan Gianforte has met with her to learn from the county’s successful Imagination Library programs and how they can be implemented elsewhere.
On Sept. 25, the world will celebrate Dolly Day in honor of the late Parton. Sproles described Parton as an “amazing human.”
“In addition to all the other things she did, I think that this is just an amazing program,” Sproles said. Imagination Library, which Parton started in her Tennessee hometown, is just one example. “I’ve just really enjoyed being … able to spread the word and get more families involved.”
