On November 15th, YES was invited to attending the first Oregon gathering of Dolly Parton Imagination Library affiliates. It was an exciting day to learn more about the growth of the program, both nationally and regionally. YES was excited to discover that Yamhill County Imagination Library (YCIL) is one of the largest affiliates in the state.

The program has continued to thrive in 2019, and the numbers speak for themselves!

YCIL is open to every child from birth to age 5 living in Yamhill County. Themes of the books include love of reading and learning; regard for diversity of people; promotion of self-esteem and confidence. This program could help every family in Yamhill County build a library of as many as 60 books and foster a love of literacy, family interaction and relationship building.

YCIL is the result of a partnership between YES and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library (DPIL). DPIL manages the selection, pricing and distribution of books while YES raises the money to cover the cost of approximately $25 per child per year.

Our book fees for 2019 will be almost $70,00! This year, we launched a Annual Sponsorship Program for local organizations to help financially support the program.  We’re so thankful to everyone who’s signed on to date, including the following:

Literary Agent ($5,000)
Yamhill Community Care Organization – YCIL received a generous grant of $10,000

Head Librarian ($2,500)

Story Teller ($1000)
Physicians Medical Center
Willamette Valley Medical Center
McMinnville Kiwanis

Reading Buddy ($500-$999)
Adam Diesburg Dentistry
First Federal
Haugeberg, Rueter, Gowell, Fredricks & Higgins, P.C.

Every month as we add children, young readers are graduating but we’re pressing toward our enrollment goal of 3,000 in 2020.

You can help!  Individuals can make donations here and businesses can email about Annual Sponsorship.

More important, please let Yamhill County families know about the program!  They can enroll online here.