Imagination Library initiative fosters love of reading among Manitoba kids
It’s the kind of scenario that would raise the ire of the average librarian. Three nearly new books, found dog-eared and grubby — practically devoured by their three preschool-aged owners who played with them and turned their pages with mucky little hands.
But Joyce Sawatzky, a school librarian in Winkler, Man., was overjoyed at the condition of the books. “Those books didn’t just go into the home and get stuck on the shelf. They were loved and they were read,” she says.
Giving preschoolers the chance to read and love books of their own is a passion for Sawatzky. Last January, through a partnership with a unique early literacy organization and armed with $15,000 in grants from Enbridge, Sawatzky helped launch a program to foster a love of reading in Winkler.
The program, called the Imagination Library, sees participants receive a free, age-appropriate book in the mail every month from birth until age five.
“We get kids coming to kindergarten who have literally never held a children’s book before. Just having this experience with books could be a huge advantage to those kids,” says Sawatzky.
The Imagination Library program was started by U.S. country music singer Dolly Parton in 1995. Today, more than 750,000 children in 1,600 communities around the word receive books each month.
Local community groups pay $4 per child, per month, to the Imagination Library, which selects and mails the books to the children. Organizers like Sawatzky sign up local participants — in this case, eligible children in Winkler and neighboring Plum Coulee — and raise the funds needed to launch a five-year program.
In Winkler, where 770 children registered for the program in the first four months, literacy challenges include an almost 50-50 split of English to non-English native speakers. “I had a mom who asked if she could register to receive the books because she wanted to learn how to read. This is our target audience,” says Sawatzky.
The Imagination Library’s capacity to impact the whole community made the program a good fit for a community investment grant, says Les Scott, a Regina-based senior advisor of public affairs for Enbridge. “This seemed like a powerful way to make an impact because the program helps children develop literacy skills and they in turn can help their parents with their English skills,” he says.
This past spring, Enbridge supported a similar Imagination Library initiative, spearheaded by the Fort McMurray, Alta., Rotary Club, with a $10,000 investment.
In addition to thousands of books, Enbridge’s grants also brought less tangible benefits.
“This donation from Enbridge was huge in that it granted us a measure of respect as a not-for-profit organization in the community,” says Sawatzky. “It was humbling to us as a committee to see that Enbridge saw the value in this project and the difference literacy could make in our community, starting with our youngest citizens.”
