First Security Bank announces partnership with Imagination Library
by May 23, 2018 8:51 am 483 views
This week, First Security Bank announced it would partner with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
The Searcy-based bank rolled out a program that provides all children from birth to age 5 who open a Kids Club Savings Account will also be able to simultaneously enroll in Imagination Library to start receiving a book each month at no charge to them.
Founded in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting organization that has, to date, mailed more than 100 million books to children in Australia, Belize, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States. Each month, the program currently mails more than one million specially selected, high-quality, age-appropriate books to registered children from birth until they start Kindergarten in participating communities.
The program aims to improve reading for pre-school children.
First Security presented a check for $10,000 to fund the program. It costs $25 per year to enroll one child, so the initial donation will fund 400 children. As more children sign up, First Security will provide additional funds. The partnership is with the Arkansas Imagination Library, which currently has active affiliates in 68 of the 75 counties in Arkansas.
Nate Coulter, director of the Central Arkansas Library System, said, “Thank you to First Security for this partnership. The partnership announced today is going to provide a boost to getting this great program into even more of our 75 counties so more and more children can show up for kindergarten ready to learn.”
Dr. Houston Davis, president of the University of Central Arkansas and a member of the board of directors for Arkansas Imagination Library, said, “I was living in Tennessee at the very early stages of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. They realized it was not just a state initiative, but a patchwork of initiatives that would grow out of communities. Thank you, First Security, for making this a piece of your financial literacy program. When it comes to access to books, you cannot start early enough.”
John Rutledge, CEO and president of First Security Bank in Central Arkansas, added, “In our local communities, we are constantly looking for ways to make better happen for families. Imagination Library, which allows children and their parents to get a jump start on reading, is a natural partner for First Security Bank, which encourages children and their parents to get a jump start on saving through its Kids Club Saving Account program. The adoption of both of these lifelong habits from a young age is critical for generations to come.”