NORTH SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — The Onondaga County Dolly Parton Imagination Library Program (DPIL) is celebrating giving out its 1.5 millionth book.
It’s going to a special Central New Yorker who’s a big fan of Dolly, named Rocco Cestaro.
Cestaro, of Clay, is just five years old and is one of seven global recipients of a magical Dolly Parton bookmark.
The bookmark allowed him to video chat with Dolly and get free tickets to the Dollywood Theme Park.
The Dollywood Foundation will also donate $2,000 on behalf of Rocco to DPIL Literacy Coalition of Onondaga County as a thank you.
The DPIL program started with Dolly out of love for her father who never learned to read and write.
Kids from ages one to five in Onondaga County get one book a month. So, by the time they get to kindergarten, they have 60 books in their little library.
More than 15,000 kids are enrolled in the program Central New York. The goal is to help them get ready for kindergarten and stay on track.
You can learn more about Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at ImaginationLibrary.com.
You can also learn more about the Literacy Coalition of Onondaga County by visiting OnLiteracy.org.
