Dollywood Foundation Launches Give Like Dolly Day to Champion Literacy

The effort highlights the thousands of local partners who serve as the program's backbone, raising funds and managing distribution to ensure children from birth to age five receive high-quality literature at home. Jeff Conyers, president of the Dollywood Foundation, describes the event as a call to action for individuals to mirror Parton’s personal philosophy of giving back to those in need. Since its 1995 inception in Sevier County, Tennessee, the Imagination Library has expanded into a massive international operation, gifting over 300 million books across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland.

Participants can visit ImaginationLibrary.com to locate local programs or find resources to establish new ones in their own areas. Beyond the foundation's specific mission, the day serves as a broader invitation to support any nonprofit organization dedicated to improving children's lives. By designating September 25 as an annual tradition, the foundation seeks to sustain the momentum of a program that has become the world’s largest early childhood book-gifting initiative, proving that local partnerships remain the most effective way to foster a lifelong love of reading.