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Centerville Rotary asks council to help fund Dolly Parton Imagination Library enrollment
Summary
A Rotary organizer asked the Centerville City Council during open session to help fund enrollment in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library for children under 5; he requested the city cover roughly 50% per enrolled child and provided cost and enrollment figures.
Bryce Peterson, past president of the Centerville‑Farmington Rotary Club, used the council’s open‑session forum to ask Centerville leaders to help expand local enrollment in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a nonprofit program that mails age‑appropriate books monthly to children.
Peterson told the council the program costs about $2.60 per book per month (about $31 per child per year) and that his group has enrolled 22 Centerville children since launching six weeks earlier. He said census estimates show roughly 1,042 children under age five live in Centerville and that local enrollment could grow substantially; the Dolly Parton program’s local partner estimates a 60% enrollment cap over about five years in a fully resourced rollout. Peterson asked the council to consider funding roughly 50% of the per‑child cost for enrolled Centerville children; he said a full‑funding scenario to reach the 60% estimate would cost about $18,000 per year.
Peterson said the program is run by volunteers locally and that raised funds are used to buy and mail books; the national program handles book selection and fulfillment. He also said some titles are bilingual (English/Spanish) and that scholarships and targeted outreach would help sign up eligible households. Council members asked for clarification on the funding ask and enrollment mechanics; Peterson said funds are drawn down monthly as books are mailed and that his group has already raised money and issued an initial $5,000 check to the program.
No formal council action was taken at the meeting; councilmembers encouraged outreach and suggested the organizer return with a formal funding request or partnership plan for staff review.
