WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather & SportsUnited Way Celebrates Five Years of Free Books

United Way Celebrates Five Years of Free Books

CHATTANOOGA (WRCB) - United Way of Greater Chattanooga is celebrating Project Ready for School's fifth birthday Sunday afternoon. The party at The Grover at Warner Park is from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. Sunday and is free to the public.

Activities will include:

• Free cake, beverages and healthy snacks
• Free developmental learning check-ups
• Free Creative Discovery Museum family passes for every family that completes a check-up
• Free book enrollments
• Free early learning DVDs
• Hula hoop games with Signal Centers
• Jumping on the Moonwalk
• Story time with Chattanooga volunteer firefighters and seeing a real fire engine
• Bird seed play with Creative Discovery Museum
• Playing language activities with the Speech & Hearing Center
• Free back packs from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee
• Arts and crafts with the Chattanooga Hamilton County Public Library 
• Face painting with the Health Department's TENNder Care program
• Kid-friendly temporary tattoos 

The party is part of Governor Phil Bredesen's Imagination Library Week in Tennessee. It caps off a statewide celebration of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program. Imagination Library Week (September 13 to 19) is packed with events, like the Project Ready for School birthday party, that are aimed at boosting enrollment across the state.

The United Way of Greater Chattanooga and Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey launched the Imagination Library program five years ago. This program is part of the United Way's Project Ready for School initiative, which offers a free book per month to children under age five in five counties, including Hamilton and Marion counties in Tennessee

"I have always believed that books in the home are one of the signposts of a child who will do well in school," said Governor Bredesen.

Hamilton County alone now has more than 12,000 children receiving free books every month, or approximately 65 percent of the eligible population. Imagination Library Week is an opportunity to make families more aware of the program, educate them about the importance of reading to their children, and encourage them to get their child a learning check-up.

The cost of delivering 12 hardback books to one child in Tennessee is $28 annually. In Hamilton and Marion counties, this cost is split evenly between United Way's Project Ready for School and a state budgetary allocation requested annually by the governor, approved by the General Assembly, and administered by the Governor's Books from Birth Foundation. That means United Way's Project Ready for School must raise $14 per child, per year, to keep the free books coming.

In Georgia, United Way works with the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy and local community action teams to offer the Imagination Library program to children in Dade, Catoosa and Walker counties. The cost in Georgia is $36 per child per year, which must be raised by the local community.

More than 17,000 children in all five of these counties now receive age-appropriate, hardback books in the mail each month at no cost to their families. Families can enroll at the party at the Project Ready for School booth. You can also call United Way at 423-752-0328 for a brochure or go online to enroll. After United Way receives a completed enrollment form signed by a parent, the child's first book typically is mailed within eight to ten weeks.