Special to Dorchester Banner/United Way
The M&T Charitable Foundation recently provided a $5,000 grant in support of United Way’s Imagination Library Program. The grant will provide 2,300 books to over 190 children on the Lower Eastern Shore. Pictured from left: Gene Malone of M&T Bank with Pam Gregory of United Way of the Lower Eastern Shore.
[/caption] SALISBURY — The M&T Charitable Foundation recently provided a $5,000 grant to support United Way of the Lower Eastern Shore’s Imagination Library Program. The local United Way administers the Imagination Library literacy program through delivery of free books each month to the homes of local children ages birth to 5. The impact of the program is aimed at kindergarten preparedness and fostering a lifelong love of reading. Gene Malone, M&T Bank Administrative vice president for Southern Delaware and the Eastern Shore shared, “M&T Bank and the Foundation are pleased to provide this grant for such an impactful local program. It is an honor to assist in providing children and families with the materials they need for educational success through United Way’s Imagination Library Program.” The grant will provide 2,300 books to over 190 children on the Lower Eastern Shore. Since the Imagination Library’s inception in May of 2012, the local United Way has distributed over 70,000 books to 3,655 children in Worcester, Wicomico, Somerset and Dorchester counties. Founded in 1996, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a program that provides hundreds of thousands of books each month to registered children in participating communities all over the United States and Canada. Promoting a love of reading and learning as the building blocks for a strong foundation in education, we believe in helping children dream more, learn more, care more and be more. Since launching the program here in 2012, we have distributed over 64,500 books to local children!