Dolly Parton getting political? Kind of… Of course, the country star-turned-philanthropist has a very successful non profit organization called Imagination Library, which is a nationwide program that gifts high-quality, age-appropriate books to children once a month until they turn five, no matter the family’s income. She was first inspired to start it because of her own father, who was illiterate, and didn’t know how to read. She officially started it in 1995, starting in her home county of Sevier County, Tennessee. In 2018, Dolly celebrated the delivery of the 100 millionth book. The Library of Congress even hosted an event commemorating the milestone, and in 2021, The Library of Congress awarded the Imagination Library, an initiative of The Dollywood Foundation, with the $150,000 David M. Rubenstein Prize for its work in delivering more than 160 million books to children around the world. It’s obviously been a wildly successful program, but it sounds like a governor in one state is ready to get rid of the program. Indiana governor Mike Braun did not include it in the newest proposed state budget, as it does not include the usual 50 percent matching funds provided to finance the initiative. Dolly rarely, if ever, has made any sort of statement on politics or political figures, and she’s turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom from multiple Presidents from both the Republican and Democrat parties, so for her to call him out via a statement is pretty shocking. In a statement to the Daily Beast from her rep, Dolly and her team say they hope the will revisit the cuts, because “every child deserves the chance to dream big and succeed,” which her program encourages in a way that is unmatched: “We are hopeful that Governor Braun and the Indiana Legislature will continue this vital investment by restoring the state’s funding match for local Imagination Library programs. The beauty of the Imagination Library is that it unites us all—regardless of politics—because every child deserves the chance to dream big and succeed.” Her statement continued, saying that Imagination Library distributes over 125,000 books to children in Indiana each month: “For the past two years, the State of Indiana has been a proud partner in bringing Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to over 125,000 Hoosier children each month. Together, we’ve helped nurture a love of reading, given families precious moments of joy, and built a foundation for lifelong learning.” They now send over two million free books each month to children around the world… it’s extremely impressive. According to the South Bend Tribune, Dolly’s program: “Sends new books each month to more than 10,000 children in St. Joseph County and more than 5,000 in Elkhart, LaGrange and Noble counties.” Through shared funding, the program is run by Parton along with local and state partners in multiple countries, including the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland. If anyone could get lawmakers to reconsider the cut, it’s certainly Dolly Parton. Once again, it’s extremely rare for her to speak out like this, and I think would be unfortunate if her program ends up getting cut from the budget because so many children have benefited from the access to books and ability to enhance their education this way, specially if their family doesn’t have the means to provide books otherwise. Rep. Dale DeVon, R-Granger, has said that the funding could be added back into the budget bill by committee chairs in the House and Senate, but that wouldn’t happen until April. Back in 2023, a forecasting error left the state with a $1 billion shortfall in the Medicaid budget, and since then, Indiana has been trying to aggressively trim up the budget. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Imagination Library (@imaginationlibrary) The post Dolly Parton Calls Out Indiana Governor In Rare Political Statement Over ‘Imagination Library’ Funding: “Every Child Deserves The Chance To Dream Big & Succeed” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.