Community Care Coalition takes back partnership with Imagination Library

By Sheila Harris [email protected]

The Community Care Coalition, with Exeter resident Teresa Philllips, at the helm, is managing Barry County’s partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library again after the State of Missouri cut funding for the program on July 1.

Phillips was among a small number of Missouri partners when she brought the Imagination Library to Barry County in 2021. Through partnerships with local affiliates, the early childhood literacy program — called the “most well-known” initiative of the Dollywood Foundation — mails a free, age-appropriate book, every month, to children under the age of 5.

The Imagination Library was launched by Dolly Parton in 1995, in honor of her father, Lee Parton, who never learned to read or write. Initially intended for children in Sevier County, Tenn., where Parton grew up, the Imagination Library achieved worldwide status when other communities desired to partner with the program.

In spite of speculation that The Imagination Library might cease after its beloved founder’s passing, the Dollywood Foundation has assured the public that the Imagination Library will continue as part of Parton’s legacy. As of Aug. 25, the day of Dolly Parton’s death, the literacy program had distributed more than 300 million books to children, worldwide.

After the birth of her oldest granddaughter in 2018, Phillips contacted the Dollywood Foundation for information about how to enroll her in the Imagination Library.

“In order for my granddaughter to receive books, I learned there had to be a local affiliate for the program: someone who was willing to educate, raise funds and register children,” Phillips said.

There were no affiliates in Barry County, so Phillips took on that role.

“It was just me, at first,” she said. “My initial goal was to register children in the Exeter and Cassville ZIP codes. I reached out to parents, grandparents and others I knew, who I thought might be interested in supporting the program. I even set up tables at local events, where I shared information and registered children in the program.”

Phillips said the first books from the Imagination Library were mailed to children in Exeter and Cassville in 2021.

“Next, I made registering kids in every ZIP code in Barry County my goal,” Phillips said.

A few months later, Glenda Myers, a member of the Thrifty Closet, in Shell Knob, reached out to arrange a meeting and learn more about the organization. 

Following that meeting, the Thrifty Closet began sponsoring all registered children in the Shell Knob ZIP code.

During the presentation, Phillips was introduced to Dean Ferguson, who was then the director of Noah’s Ark Daycare, and who is now a kindergarten teacher in Shell Knob.

Later, Cassville Branch Library Supervisor Cheryl Williams invited Phillips to present information about the Imagination Library to the Cassville Area Friends of the Library organization. During that presentation, a difficult but important question arose.

“‘What if you get hit by a bus? What happens to the program then?’ Board member Rick Lawson asked me,” Phillips recalled. “That’s when we decided to form a nonprofit.”

Williams, Ferguson, and Kiley Stringer, of Cassville, offered to help Phillips establish the organization, and Phillips gladly accepted. Williams now serves as vice president, Stringer as secretary and Ferguson as treasurer. Phillips, Williams, Ferguson, and Stringer became founding and lifetime board members of the

nonprofit, called “Imagination Library Affiliate 2778, Barry County.”

Gradually, the program expanded.

“Several additional ZIP codes were added to our mailing list at the same time,” Phillips said. “Purdy was next in our sights, but Michelle Hilburn, who was the school librarian at the time, established a separate Imagination Library affiliation for that ZIP code. In Monett, the Monett Community Foundation stepped forward to sponsor children in the Monett ZIP code.”

Through these efforts and partnerships, Imagination Library coverage eventually extended across all of Barry County.

As the Imagination Library continued to gain momentum in the county, Phillips received news from the Dollywood Foundation in 2023 that the State of Missouri wanted to take over the Imagination Library.

According to Saint Louis National Public Radio affiliate, STLPR, Missouri would be the first state to fully fund the literacy program, which would be placed under the auspices of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

“The education of Missouri children is near and dear to us, and we know learning starts early. Even simple access to quality books at a young age can make a transformational difference in the life of a child as they grow older and seek to achieve their own American Dream,” [then-Governor Mike Parson and his wife, Teresa] said in a statement, at the time.

Phillips was informed that “because the State was to provide the funds for the Imagination Library, DESE wanted full control over its operations.” The services of the local nonprofit would no longer be needed.

Later, after the transfer to the state was complete, Phillips received an invitation from the Dollywood Foundation for Phillips and one guest to attend a special Imagination Library/Missouri partnership-recognition event in Kansas City, where Dolly Parton herself would be in attendance.

Phillips took Ferguson, fellow board member and die-hard Dolly Parton fan, to Kansas City with her.

The event took place in the Folly Theater, where the pair had a seat at a table directly in front of the stage.

“We were so close we could chat with Dolly from where we sat,” Phillips said.

The event proved to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Phillips and Ferguson to watch Parton perform live.

Rather than allowing the change in the Imagination Library’s oversight to halt their work, Phillips and the Board determined to broaden their nonprofit organization’s educational mission.

Together, they transformed the former Barry County Imagination Library nonprofit into Community Care Coalition, Barry County. Today, the organization provides books and library services to homebound individuals through the Books on Wheels program, maintains literacy resources throughout the county and offers educational opportunities to individuals incarcerated in the Barry County Jail through its Open Minds Initiative.

In May of this year, just two years after the State of Missouri took oversight of the Imagination Library, the State announced it was bowing out of the program due to budgetary constraints. Funding ended on July 1, 2026. The final books for children in Missouri will be mailed in December.

The Dollywood Foundation reached out to Phillips to ask her if she and the Community Care Coalition would be willing to take on responsibility for partnering with the Imagination Library again, so that children in Barry County could receive books in 2027.

“Of course,” Phillips replied, although picking up the project again, midstream, appeared daunting.

Funding presents a challenge.

“We need to raise an additional $30,000 by December 1, to fund the program in all of Barry County for 2027,” Phillips said. “We already have children in Shell Knob, Golden and Eagle Rock covered through sponsorship by the Thrifty Closet and the Eagle Rock Community Foundation.”

According to Phillips, the cost for one child to receive one free, age-appropriate book, every month, for one year, is $31.20.

More than 900 children in Barry County were registered to receive free books when Phillips turned over the reins to the State in 2024. The number of registrants now stands at 1,210.

Phillips said the Community Care Coalition is seeking donations from businesses, churches, organizations and individuals to sponsor all or part of those registrants.

“Every donation is used for books and mailing costs for children in our local program,” Phillips said.

Donations can be made directly to the Imagination Library’s website, at https://imaginationlibrary.com/, where a box can be checked to indicate that you’d like to donate to a specific site. From there, Barry County, Missouri, can be chosen.

Alternatively, checks may be mailed to the Community Care Coalition, at P.O. Box 660, Cassville, MO 65625, with “Imagination Library” written on the memo line.

For more information, people may call 417-846-3603 or email [email protected].

Although Dolly Parton’s larger-than-life presence will leave a gaping hole behind with her passing, her spirit and legacy will live on throughout the world, and in Barry County, through her Imagination Library.