Reading stretches imagination

By Joel Myhre (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Saturday, October 13, 2007

Once a month, my daughter gets a thrill when we open the mailbox.

That’s when we get the monthly book from the Imagination Library. When I pass the packaged book back to her, sitting in the car seat, she looks at it and says, “Oooh!” Followed by an, “Open it up, daddy! I want to read it.”

Of course, at just shy of 3, she can’t read yet. But she could probably fool a lot of people into thinking she could read. After we read a book to her enough times, she has memorized the words, figured out which words go with which pictures on the page, and essentially reads the book to us, word for word.

Realizing this, whenever we get a new book, she wants me to read it to her, over and over again, until she gets it memorized. On Monday night, we read our Imagination Library book, “Baron and Fluffy” six or seven times.

While reading the same book seven times in one night is a little tiring, at least it was a good story. Baron is a German shepherd dog who takes on a domesticated pekin duck, Fluffy, as a friend. The two of them play together, and go through the process of Fluffy laying eggs, and then having and raising ducklings. It was based on the author’s real-life dog and pekin duck she had growing up.

When the United Way started the Imagination Library nearly two years ago, I frankly did not feel we should. While I’m a firm believer in the importance of reading, I also felt we could afford to buy books for my daughter. I didn’t think the United Way and the Dolly Parton Foundation should supply them to us. And I was afraid that if too many children signed up, the United Way might have a hard time sustaining the program over the long term.

However, my mother-in-law felt differently. She signed her up, and made a donation that exceeded the $27 annual cost our local United Way pays to cover the shipping cost of the books.

I have to say, I’m glad my daughter participates in the program. While we can afford to buy her books, I was surprised that we just didn’t on as regular of a basis as the Imagination Library delivers them. I was also surprised at how enthusiastic my daughter was for having that many books.

It turns out that my concerns about the program as a whole have come to fruition. The United Way supplies books to about 1,600 (CHECK) children in Otter Tail County. That means the program costs about $3,700 per month, or about $45,000 per year.

Thanks to an initial donation from the United Way, along with generous contributions from the Emily Johnson Foundation, the memorial fund from the late Tom Stringer, and others, the Imagination Library has been able to operate for the past 18 months.

However, the program is running out of money. If additional funding is not found quickly, the program will be suspended.

Now, I’m not worried about my daughter. I’m sure we can find a service that will continue to mail her a book a month, or we or her multitude of relatives can just remember to buy her a book a month. But I wonder about the other children in the program who can’t afford to buy books.

While there are many options to save the program temporarily, one good option for keeping the Imagination Library going permanently is for the United Way could raise its annual contribution total from the $320,000 it has raised in recent years to its goal this year of $360,000, and possibly more.

That way, the United Way Board could provide a large annual contribution to the Imagination Library without reducing funding for other important agencies in the community.

It is why your donation to the United Way is particularly important this year. If you haven’t been asked to donate yet – or if you have been asked, said no but have now changed your mind – please contact the United Way office at 736-5147.

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Joel Myhre is The Journal’s general manager. E-mail him at joel.myhre@fergusfallsjournal.com