Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
PORTALES — Sitting down at night to read with your child is one of the most iconic parts of being a parent. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a nationwide program meant to make sure every family has the opportunity to do so.
The Imagination Library works with counties and cities across the nation to send free books to families with children from birth to 5 years old. It recently partnered with United Way of Eastern New Mexico to bring the program to Roosevelt and De Baca counties.
United Way will kick things off Jan. 13 with a signup event alongside the regular Produce to the People food giveaway from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Memorial Building in Portales.
The only requirements to sign up are an address to send books to and the receiving child’s name and birth date.
“We want to give everyone that moment. The joy of a book while sitting in the lap of a parent or grandparent,” said United Way Executive Director Erinn Burch. “It opens up kids to a whole new world and touches on so many positive values. Its good for families, babies and their development.”
In November, the Eastern New Mexico University Foundation began coordinating the effort to bring the Imagination Library to Roosevelt and De Baca counties, but had some trouble finding an eligible 501(c)3 non-profit organization to serve as fiscal agent.
Curry County came into the program in 2014 with Imagination Library of Grant County acting as the 501(c)3, but that option is no longer available to new applicants.
The ENMU Foundation itself qualified with its 501(c)3, but members of the ENMU Board of Regents asked organizer Edwina Gower to pursue alternative options first.
After searching for other eligible candidates, United Way, which had previously shown interest in the program, but lacked funding, stepped in not only to act as fiscal agent, but to run the program as well.
With United Way at the helm, Gower said the ENMU Foundation will step back into more of a support role for the program alongside other local groups like the local Rotary and Altrusa clubs.
Gower said one of the reasons she thinks it’s important to bring this program to Portales is to provide books to some of the area’s difficult-to-reach populations.
“We don’t care who you are, everyone’s welcome to come out and take advantage of this,” Gower said. “We want to help the children that are underserved in this community any way we can.”
Information: Contact United Way at 575-769-2103
