Childhood Development Initiative seeks sponsors to keep Imagination Library running in Dublin 24

Childhood Development Initiative (CDI) has launched an urgent appeal for sponsors to prevent the closure of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library service in Tallaght.

Based at St Mark’s Youth and Family Centre on Fettercairn Road, CDI says it needs €8,000 a month – €100,000 a year – to continue gifting books to more than 5,000 local children aged birth to five.

CEO Marian Quinn called on “businesses, philanthropists and the wider community” to fund the programme, which has delivered over 420,000 books in Dublin 24 since its Irish launch in 2019 and supplied 61,161 books in 2025.

The Imagination Library, founded by Dolly Parton in 1995, mails free books to children’s homes via An Post. The Dollywood Foundation manages the ordering system, and CDI covers the operating costs.

CDI is seeking 12 sponsors to underwrite one month’s deliveries each year for three years at €8,000 per sponsor, with the cost per book just over €1.50.

Give Like Dolly Day, scheduled for Friday, will promote the fundraising drive and highlight the programme’s role in early language development, literacy and school readiness for Dublin 24’s children.

Source: The Echo. Photo: Ann Marie Kennon / Pexels.