Fort St. John Imagination Library faces funding shortage

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – Enrollment in the Fort St. John Imagination Library has been temporarily paused as the literary society seeks community support to continue funding the program. 

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a free book gifting program for children ages zero to five. Enrolled children receive one high-quality book in the mail every month, with children enrolled at birth receiving 60 books throughout their time in the program. 

According to the program’s official website, the Dollywood Foundation provides and funds book selection, wholesale purchase negotiations, mass printing, and book ordering. The foundation also incurs the cost of the program’s administrative and overhead expenses. 

The program, which first began in Fort St. John in 2018, is run locally by the Fort St. John Literacy Society, which operates several programs for youth and adult tutoring. 

Today, around 700 children are enrolled in Fort St. John’s Imagination Library.

Jessica Kalmen, the sole staff member running the program, explained that the society hopes to double enrollment and ensure that those enrolled can stay in the program until they age out at five years old.

For Fort St. John’s current enrollment, the Literacy Society costs $3,000 to run one month of the program, at a cost of around $3 a month, or $50 a year, per child enrolled. 

“They’re good, high-quality books, including the postage right to their mailbox. So when you think about it, it’s not that much of a cost per child, but when you look at the sheer number of kiddos we have in this community, it can add up quite quickly,” Kalmen said.

Since 2018, the Literacy Society has increased the number and variety of programs offered for residents and is now struggling to fund the Imagination Library program.

In recent years, funding for the program has been limited to grants received by the society, limiting its growth and marketability. 

“Up until now, our other programs were sort of floating along and managing okay. We’re now starting to diversify our programs and help more community members. So we’re at [at the] point now where all of our grants can’t be for one thing anymore,” Kalmen said. 

Enrollment in the program is currently paused until the end of August, when the Literacy Society will reevaluate its funds and determine the feasibility of continuing the Imagination Library in Fort St. John.

The Society is seeking help funding the program from residents and corporations around Fort St. John, in an attempt to avoid temporarily pausing the program for all children enrolled during the winter months to generate funds. 

“What we’re trying to do is not only ensure the sustainability of the program but also try and make it so that when we do enroll a child right when they’re born, they actually do get the 60 book library,” Kalmen said.