KAYSVILLE—More than 2,500 children in Kaysville and Fruit Heights will be able to explore the world through books as Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library expands into their cities. Centerville-Farmington Rotary Club in collaboration with Dr. Bryce Peterson of Ogden Clinic and the Government Employees Health Association, Inc. (G.E.H.A) will make it possible for young readers to receive free books monthly.

“I’m with G.E.H.A, which is a nonprofit member organization that provides health and dental benefits to more than 2 million federal employees and military retirees nationwide,” said Alexis Rolloff, Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer. “This program is particularly important for us because we really believe in investing in our member communities to make them healthier and stronger.”

This is a great avenue for that through childhood literacy, she said. “We have meaningful generational help for both youth and their families here in the area. After launching in Centerville in 2024, where we provided more than 2,600 books to support more than 500 children, our continued support is now helping us expand our impact across Davis County.”

Rolloff said G.E.H.A will be able to broaden its efforts and deliver an additional 3,000 books to children over the next year.

 “We know that childhood literacy has a high correlation to overall health,” she said. “So by participating in the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program students are able to really develop a level of reading that in tandem helps them develop self-esteem, critical social skills and really contributes to a broader sense of self-advocacy and curiosity that will serve them throughout their lives.”

A core part of the community investment and collaboration really starts with listening to the needs of organizations that are here on the ground, said Rolloff. “Through our relationship with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library this opportunity was presented to us to support one of the really critical regions for us – where our members live and work. It’s essential for us to be investing in our member communities to make them healthier and stronger.”

Rotary has an international focus on literacy, said Dr. Bryce Peterson of Ogden Clinic and a member of the Centerville-Farmington Rotary Club. “For decades the Centerville-Farmington Rotary has been giving third graders in all public schools a dictionary. Over the last couple of years it’s kind of become obvious to us that kids aren’t using them.”

Peterson said the Rotary wondered what would benefit kids and help with literacy. “We got interested in this program. I got interested in this program about 15 years ago. I remember a kid I saw as a patient. The mom at a well child visit, whose child was in first grade, told me the kid wasn’t reading real well. I asked how much screen time the kid was getting and she said, ‘I think a lot.’”

She worked three jobs and her dad was the main person who watches the child and he’s old and tired, the mom said. “She said ‘I think he watches a lot of screens,’’ said Peterson. “I thought, ‘well I can’t really tell a mom to feed her child less,’ right? She’s doing everything she can.”

At that point, Peterson said he started trying to figure out how to get her help. “What in the world is the intervention to that awful situation? I had just started trying to give books to newborns and try to build it on my own.”

Peterson said he went to a Utah Medical Association meeting and talked about it. “I said ‘hey I’m trying to do this. If anyone wants to talk about it, come find me.’ Someone came and found me and they said, ‘why are you trying to reinvent the wheel? Don’t you know about Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library?’ So I decided to see how I could help bring it to Davis County.”

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library mails out a book every single month to kids from birth until a child’s fifth birthday, he said. “So they could get 60 books. These are all high quality books. The books are selected in a rotating fashion meaning the list of books changes each year so your kids don’t just get the same book. If you have more than one kid they all will end up getting different books.”

To date Peterson said the Rotary has 555 children actively enrolled, not counting the 50 or so that enrolled in the last year and then graduated by turning five. “We’ve given out just shy of 2,700 books which is really something because we only actually mailed our first book in March,” he said. “We’ve been able to expand much, much faster through the great sponsorship that we’ve been able to get. Mainly from Ogden Clinic and G.E.H.A.”

The Rotary is actively seeking sponsors and donations to keep the program running. “You can go to CFRotary.com or imaginationlibrary.com and sponsor one child’s books for a year for $32. We would love that support. People are welcome to email me with questions or more information at imaginationlibrarydavis.com.”