Favorite storybook characters pose with their books.
Submitted Photo
April 5 event benefits Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
SCRANTON — Local children will soon get the opportunity to dress as their favorite storybook character and have breakfast with 25 storybook characters.
The storybook breakfast, scheduled for Saturday, April 5, will benefit Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at St. Mary’s Center, 320 Mifflin St., Scranton. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., with doors opening at 9:30 a.m.
The event will also have photo opportunities with the storybook characters, crafts, raffle, live entertainment and goodie bags.
Dolly Parton began the Imagination library in 1995. It benefited children in her home county of East Tennessee. She wanted to foster a love of reading among the county’s preschool children and their families.
The Dolly Parton Imagination Library provides children with books from birth to age 5 monthly, regardless of the family’s income. The library is affiliated with the United Way of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike Counties, providing books to over 3500 children.
The library is available throughout the United States and in Canada, Australia, Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
“I saw a post on Facebook and wondered if we had this in Lackawanna County,” said Nancy Sarno de los Riso. “I saw we didn’t. I was speaking with my best friend Virginia Paoloni, who was an avid reader and loved Dolly Parton as well. We approached the United Way and discussed starting an affiliate. After working with a major foundation, we were able to start. Leadership Lackawanna helped us launch and we hoped they’d sign up 500 children and they ended up signing up 2500. We’ve been managing that amount ensuring we always have enough funds to carry a child through the entire program.”
Local organizations and individuals provide funding so that the Imagination Library is able to provide an appropriate age book each month to every registered child free of charge.
“In 2022, the Imaginative Library came to Lackawanna County with United Way of Lackawanna, Wayne and pike Counties as the local financial sponsor,” Matt Ceruti, vice president of resource development and campaign for the United Way of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike counties, said. “Since that time, we’ve distributed nearly 70,000 books to children in Lackawanna County and will hit 1000,000 in the next year. This breakfast will help to raise funds to ensure that we can register as many children in Lackawanna County as possible.”
Ceruti oversees all fundraising operations including events like the Storybook Breakfast and the United Way annual community campaign.
Sarno de los Riso said that since reading is so crucial for children, the program is essential for the community.
“The benefits are endless nothing like sitting with a child on your lap, reading a story and having the snuggles,” Sarno de los Riso said. “In today’s world of electronics, reading is so important to teach patients and concentration. It supports language and cognitive development, imagination and emotional growth and helps with their studies as they grow.”
For information about Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, or to make a donation, visit uwlc.net/initiative/dolly-partons-innovation-library.
