Imagination Library in Rochester looking for community support

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — A program looking to inspire a love of reading in Rochester youth is asking for your help.

The Rochester chapter of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is in danger of not getting the state funding increase requested this year.

As part of the program, Rochester kids under five receive a free book in the mail every month, but organizers were hoping to expand it to surrounding communities in Monroe County and across the state.

As a final budget deal looms, Matt Present, the founder of Rochester’s Imagination Library, is turning to the community for some grassroots advocacy.

Present says the $2.5 million they’re asking for is just a fraction of the total New York State budget. He says it will go a long way in helping to address the “literary crisis” in our region.

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