For weeks, organizers for the Sonoma County Dolly Parton Imagination Library had been preparing for a planned dinner Saturday to raise funds for one of the region’s most beloved youth literacy programs.
“A Dolly Good Time,” was ready to go at the Friedman Event Center in Santa Rosa. And then came the awful blow Tuesday, when those organizers and the rest of the world learned of country music icon’s death, at the age of 80.
“When we started planning Saturday’s event, we had no idea that we’d be doing so in the face of such a tragic loss,” said Daniela Leyva, communications manager for the nonprofit First 5 Sonoma County.
Parton’s passing has unleashed untold number of tributes about her groundbreaking career. But her Bay Area legacy also extended into a longstanding push to bolster childhood literacy through Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which has gifted over 300 million books to children around the world.
The Sonoma County affiliate launched in June 2024, and in Napa County just last year, providing free books to children every month until their fifth birthday. The local offshoots are part of a nationwide mission: help families who struggle to afford buying books or taking trips to the library achieve those ends for their kids.
In Sonoma County, the program has mailed out over 140,719 books, raised $261,721 and has 7,535 kids enrolled in the program, according to Leyva. It’s supported by state funding from First 5 Sonoma County, the Community Foundation Sonoma County and The Dollywood Foundation.
