Community Spotlight

By Gary Baker, Director of Marketing & Public Relations

Energy Cooperative partners with local organizations and community members who work to make a positive difference for our members. One of those local organizations is the United Way of Knox County. The organization has raised more than $20 million since 1951 to improve the quality of life for Knox County residents in the areas of education, financial assistance and health. Executive Director for the United Way of Knox County, Kelly Brenneman, spoke with me about their efforts to get books into the hands of children.

IMAGINATION LIBRARY

The United Way of Knox County offers the Imagination Library to all the children in their community. Dolly Parton started this initiative in 1996 in her home county in Eastern Tennessee with the goal of giving free books to children. The Imagination Library has delivered more than 25 million books to children all over the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Kelly Brenneman and Fran DeWine

Executive Director for the United Way of Knox County, Kelly Brenneman, stated they’ve been able to offer this program all throughout Knox County since 2010 – with 75% of the children in the county enrolled. From the moment a child is born and are a part of the program, they receive one book a month up to the age of 5 years old. That’s 60 books by the time a child graduates the program when they turn 5. The books change often to avoid duplicates in the same household.

DISTRIBUTION

Imagination Library handles the process of mailing the books to the households through a secure system. The books ship from warehouses located across the United States. If for some reason the local post office has undeliverable or returned books, the United Way of Knox County picks them up and brings them to places throughout the county where they can be put to good use, such as local preschools and the Salvation Army.

OHIO’S IMAGINATION LIBRARY FOOTPRINT

Kelly mentioned when Fran DeWine became the first lady of Ohio, she wanted to find a project that she felt passionate about. In doing research, Fran found Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and started devoting her time and energy to getting books into children’s hands. Her goal is to implement the program in each of Ohio’s 88 counties. Kelly shared that Fran is amazed Knox County has 75% of their children enrolled since all of Ohio is only at about 50%. The United Way of Knox County would love to get participation in the program up to 80% enrollment, but there are a few areas in the county where it can be challenging to sign children up for the program.

At the Energy Cooperative, we are very proud to support and partner with organizations like the United Way of Knox County. Kelly Brenneman has been a great addition to the United Way, and she has been an active board member on the Energy Cooperative Operation Round Up Foundation. We look forward to supporting this organization in the future and are excited to see other programs they put into place.