Feel Good Friday - Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

As you’ve likely seen by now, Dolly Parton passed away this past Tuesday at age 80, so we’re going to revisit a Feel Good Friday post I wrote in September 2021 about Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Sevierville, Tennessee,  Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is "a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, no matter their family's income." 

The idea was deeply personal. Dolly's father never learned to read or write, and she often said she wanted every child to have the chance he didn't. The Imagination Library became the flagship program of the Dollywood Foundation, the nonprofit Dolly started in 1988 to keep kids in her home county in school, and it's since grown from one Tennessee county into a global movement supported by local partners everywhere it operates.

Here's how it works if you haven't come across it before: once a child is registered, they receive one specially selected, age-appropriate book every month, personally addressed to them, all the way until their fifth birthday. The titles are chosen by a Blue Ribbon Selection Committee of early childhood literacy experts, and the whole thing is free to families, funded through Dolly herself and local community partners in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland.

When I first wrote about this program, it had mailed just over 172 million books. By the end of 2025, that number had grown to more than 304 million books, with over 40 million going out in 2025 alone, a rate of roughly one book mailed every 0.78 seconds. The program is now celebrating 31 years of getting kids excited about reading, one mailbox at a time.

If you'd like to honor Dolly's memory, her family asked that donations be made to the Imagination Library to keep her promise of free books going to children who need them most. You can also check availability in your community to participate in the program. And while tributes are still coming in, take a moment to amplify this work on social media. Follow Imagination Library on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Rest in peace, Dolly. 

Feel Good Friday - Shot@Life

August is National Immunization Awareness Month, a nationwide observance dedicated to the vaccines that protect people at every stage of life, and there's no better week to spotlight Shot@Life.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., Shot@Life is a United Nations Foundation campaign working to ensure everyone in the world has access to lifesaving vaccines and all children have a shot at life. Despite decades of medical progress, one in five children worldwide still lacks access to routine immunizations, and pneumonia alone kills more than 800,000 kids every year, a death toll that's almost entirely preventable with a vaccine that costs just a few dollars.

Shot@Life tackles this gap through education, advocacy, and partnership. Its flagship program trains everyday Americans to become Shot@Life Champions, volunteer advocates who meet with their members of Congress to push for continued U.S. investment in global immunization programs. Champions come from every state and every walk of life, and this February nearly 100 of them gathered in Washington for the campaign's first-ever National Advocacy Summit, held jointly with its sister campaign, United to Beat Malaria, for a day of meetings on Capitol Hill. Shot@Life also partners directly with UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, channeling private funding and public pressure toward the on-the-ground work of vaccinating children in the hardest-to-reach communities.

Since launching in 2012, Shot@Life has had a big impact. They’ve helped secure more than $5.7 billion in U.S. government funding for global vaccine programs and supported the delivery of over 120 million vaccines to children through private partners and donors, all while training more than 4,000 Americans to become vaccine equity advocates.

If you believe that people should have access to vaccines, there are several ways to support Shot@Life and their push for #VaccinesForAll. Become a Shot@Life Champion! It’s a meaningful way to get hands-on with advocacy if you're curious about meeting with your own representatives. You can also amplify their message on social media. Follow Shot@Life on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.

Happy National Immunization Awareness Month! 

Feel Good Friday - Partnership with Native Americans

Today is National Navajo Code Talkers Day, honoring the nearly 400 Navajo Marines whose unbreakable WWII code helped win the war in the Pacific, making this a great day to spotlight Partnership With Native Americans, an organization that serves Navajo Nation communities year-round.

Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Addison, Texas, the mission of Partnership With Native Americans (PWNA) is "serving immediate needs and supporting long-term solutions” so they can achieve their vision of “strong, self-sufficient Native American communities." PWNA is Native-led and Native-serving, with a Native-majority board and Native CEO, and it works with hundreds of reservation-based Program Partners across nine priority states in the Southwest and Northern Plains.

One of PWNA's most active efforts is the Navajo Relief Fund (NRF), which addresses food insecurity across the Navajo Nation, the largest reservation in the country at 27,000 square miles but served by only 13 grocery stores. Through NRF's Food Pantry Service, PWNA supplies staple foods to dozens of food bank partners, while Elder Nutrition Centers receive emergency food boxes that help Elders get through winter months when travel becomes difficult and heating costs climb. Recently, 60 Elders in the Navajo Mountain Chapter received emergency boxes filled with shelf-stable food, water, and cleaning supplies. "It's good that you are helping us," one Elder shared, noting how much the support eases the cost of groceries that require a 30- to 90-mile drive to reach.

Beyond the Navajo Relief Fund, PWNA runs the American Indian Education Fund, providing school supplies, scholarships, and literacy support to Native students, along with emergency services like home weatherization and wheelchair ramps for Elders, and disaster relief when Tribal communities are displaced. Since they began, PWNA has helped provide consistent aid to as many as 200,000 Native Americans every year.

If you'd like to support PWNA, there are many ways to do so. You can make a monetary donation, sign up to volunteer, shop for merch, and amplify their message on social media. Follow PWNA on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn, and help your network become NativeAware.

Happy National Navajo Code Talkers Day!