| |
First Steps News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 23, 2006
[ link to pdf
]
MISS BEAUFORT/JASPER COUNTY WINS DOLLY PARTON
IMAGINATION LIBRARY COMPETITION
Columbia, S.C. – Nina Gilliam, Miss Beaufort/Jasper
County 2006, has been named the winner of the Dolly Parton Imagination
Library competition. Working with Jasper County First Steps,
Gilliam raised $2,500 and worked 62 hours for the program. For
her efforts, Gilliam was awarded a grand prize of a trip to
Dollywood and a meeting with Dolly Parton.
The competition, a partnership between the Miss South Carolina
Pageant Association and S.C. First Steps to School Readiness,
awards the pageant contestant who raises the most funds and/or
logs the most volunteer hours for the Imagination Library. Gilliam
was among 40 contestants and 36 teen contestants who raised
a total of $6,000 and volunteered hundreds of hours signing
up children, helping at events, and promoting the Imagination
Library.
"Nina has been in the trenches with
Jasper First Steps staff promoting this program, and we are
extremely grateful for her efforts to improve literacy for young
children in our county,” said Jasper County First Steps
Executive Director Cathy Gardner. “Through her hard work,
more children in Jasper County from birth to age 5 will receive
a hardcover, age-appropriate book mailed to their homes every
month. Hats off to Nina – we are proud to be associated
with her."
Founded by Dolly Parton in 1988, the Dolly Parton Imagination
Library provides free age-appropriate books to children age
birth to 5 years. Many children receiving books might not otherwise
have many quality books at their reading level in their homes.
Children who register in their local communities are mailed
one book per month through their fifth birthday. The initiative
also invites the development of companion programs to further
encourage families to read to their young children. First Steps
partnerships in nearly 30 South Carolina counties are currently
participating in the program, impacting over 23,500 children.
Gilliam will represent Beaufort/Jasper Counties in the upcoming
Miss South Carolina Pageant. Pageant preliminaries will be July
4th-6th, and finals will be on July 8th. Each evening of competition
will be held at 8 p.m. at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium.
|
|
|
