Together with First 5 Siskiyou and Siskiyou Community Collaborative, Gamma Nu Chapter registered over 1,000 of the 2,500 eligible children in Siskiyou County. Parents can register their children at imaginationlibrary.com.

The Siskiyou Dolly Parton Imagination Library is hoping to receive donations on Nov. 27, North State Giving Tuesday. Donors can give online at www.northstategives.org by choosing Dolly Parton. Donations are tax deductible.

For two years the Gamma Nu Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, an organization of teachers in Siskiyou County, has been registering young children ages birth to five to receive a monthly book mailed to the child's home.

Together with First 5 Siskiyou and Siskiyou Community Collaborative, Gamma Nu Chapter registered over 1,000 of the 2,500 eligible children in Siskiyou County. Parents can register their children at imaginationlibrary.com.

Dolly Parton, of country music fame, started the Dollywood Foundation in 1995 in her home county in Tennessee. She knew first hand from her dad of the difficulty a person has who struggles with reading, according to a press release from Siskiyou Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

Dolly decided to do something about it by creating a foundation that provided a free book mailed every month to the home of children ages birth to 5. It had a great impact on readiness for reading with the children of her county.

The success of the program garnered attention nationwide and soon spread across the U.S. and four other countries. Dolly’s foundation pays for much of the expense, but the cost and mailing of books is dependent upon a local champion like the local Siskiyou Dolly Parton Imagination Library. The organization does two things – help parents register children and raise funds to pay for the books. Only $25 a year pays for the 12 books and mailing for each child. The Dolly Parton Imagination Library mails out more than one million books a month. 1,000 of those books go to Siskiyou County children.

There are many generous people in Siskiyou County who have joined the organization in giving the gift of literacy to Siskiyou children, the press release states.

This is the first time the organization has participated in North State Giving Tuesday, and they are hopeful that they’ll “capture the hearts of those who want to join us in making a difference in preparing our children for success in school.

“Ultimately, we want to make a difference in their lives, their success in school, and in life. It can be a huge benefit to the future of Siskiyou County,” the press release states.

From 6 a.m.–8 p.m. on Nov. 27, donors can go online to give during Giving Tuesday. You can follow the group live that day on their Facebook page: Siskiyou Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

The organization will be doing a live reading of a children’s book at fifteen minutes past every hour.

North State Giving Tuesday is supported by Shasta Regional Community Foundation. Last year over $1 million was received in donations for nonprofit projects in Siskiyou, Shasta and Tehama Counties.

For more information about the Siskiyou Dolly Parton Imagination Library call (530) 917-0706, or online at imaginationlibrary.com.