Three weeks in and the White County Imagination Library is still pushing, to sign up youngsters and to fund the program. The program got an injection of cash Friday morning as the Carmi Kiwanis Club and representatives from First Bank presented checks to help fund the initiative.
Beth Conner, owner at Little Sprouts Learning Center and a member of the steering committee which is responsible for launching the Imagination Library throughout southern Illinois says White County is at 37.7%, or 259 of 687 eligible kids enrolled. Before the Kiwanis and First Bank donations, she says the program is still slightly underfunded based on the number of children enrolled. With the number of children enrolling still growing, that means more funding will be needed. That mirrors how southern Illinois as a whole is doing. Conner says a little more than $57,500 has been raised and $64,768 is what’s needed based on current enrollment numbers so SI Read in total is still about $7,000 short of what’s needed to fund the program for the current number enrolled throughout the region.
Conner says she’s received other verbal commitments and hopes numbers for both enrollees and financial assistance to continue to grow. Read more by clicking here.
