This August we lost a great friend and partner of the Rotary Club - Dolly Parton. We honor and remember the extraordinary life she had, celebrating her profound humanitarian legacy and her enduring collaboration with Rotary International. Driven by the shared belief that every child deserves the chance to read and dream, Dolly’s Dollywood Foundation partnered with Rotary to transform early childhood literacy. While her Imagination Library provided the books and infrastructure, hundreds of local Rotary clubs across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom provided the vital funding, community outreach, and hands-on service needed to mail millions of free books to children from birth to age five. It was a flawless synergy of her visionary heart and Rotary’s commitment to "Service Above Self."
The deep bond between Dolly and the global Rotary community was beautifully highlighted at the 2010 Rotary International Convention in Montréal, where she was recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow for her tireless efforts. Her impact resonated so deeply that she was even named an honorary member of the Cleethorpes Rotary Club in England, forever cementing her place within the Rotary family. Though she is no longer with us, Dolly’s collaborative legacy lives on in the brighter futures of literate communities worldwide and in the hearts of the Rotarians who proudly stood beside her to change the world, one book at a time.
The Rotary Club of Sedona, which at the time included some of the members of our Sedona Village Rotary, brought the Imagination Library to Sedona in 2010 with a kick-off event at the community library. David Simmer spearheaded the initiative. The Great Sedona Chili Cook-Off and individual donors helped fund the program. After a few years, the community of Rimrock was added to the program’s coverage area.
In 2016, with the help of a one-year challenge grant from the Arizona Community Foundation of Sedona and the support of all three Verde Valley Rotary Clubs, the Imagination Library expanded to all Verde Valley communities. The newly named Verde Valley Imagination Library (VVIL) became a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit with representatives from each Rotary Club on its board. While no longer represented on the board, our Sedona Village Rotary helps fund the Verde Valley Imagination Library every year. There are currently 1,779 children ages 0 to 5 in the Verde Valley who receive a book every month in the mail paid for by the VVIL with 215,160 books having been delivered since the VVIL non-profit’s inception.