Two Smart Start partnerships in Eastern North Carolina teamed up to host a “Dolly Reads Night” at the request of the Highway 55 restaurant in Morehead City on Jan. 31. On that evening, Savannah Lowe, the Literacy Coordinator for Craven Smart Start, and Lisa Culpepper, the Early Education Outreach Coordinator with the Carteret County Partnership for Children, worked together reading to children and registering families for participation in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Although the legendary Dolly Parton was not in attendance for the event, her Dolly impersonator, otherwise known as Lisa Culpepper, was there in a long, blonde wig, sporting a Dolly-type outfit and wearing shiny, sequined boots. Dolly’s cardboard image was also present for restaurant customers who wanted a photo with “Dolly’s likeness”.
For the past five years, Smart Start and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library have worked together to bring books to North Carolina’s youngest children through funding provided by the North Carolina General Assembly. Smart Start partnerships across North Carolina have promoted the program and signed up families to receive the books for their children from birth to five. Thanks to the funding from the General Assembly, thousands of young children in North Carolina now have books in their homes and “are developing a love for reading, regardless of their family’s income”, which is the mission of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
For more information, contact Pinkie Moore, Community Outreach Coordinator for Craven Smart Start or call 252-671-0689.
By Pinkie S. Moore