To the editor:
The Brown County Literacy Coalition and Brown County’s littlest citizens would like to thank Vonda and Duane Mercer for their generous donation to our chapter of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Their $10,000 gift at the end of last year was matched 50 percent by the Brown County Community Foundation/Lilly Endowment Gift 7 program, which brought the total to $15,000.
This gift now covers more than an entire year of a free, age-appropriate, book a month for Brown County kids ages birth to 5. It has also enabled us to establish an endowment at the foundation. This endowment has, for years, been the dream of Jenise Bohbrink, Brown County Literacy Coalition vice president, in whose name the donation was made in honor of her bravery facing and beating one of the rarest and most aggressive cancers in the world.
Vonda and Duane were instrumental in establishing the Brown County chapter of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, originally managed through the Church of the Lakes in Nineveh. In 2016, the Brown County Literacy Coalition took over management of the program. Our hope is that this endowment will continue to grow over the years, funding this program in perpetuity for the benefit of Brown County kids.
We are deeply grateful to the Mercers for their continued support of Dolly Parton’s wonderful efforts to help children succeed in school and in life.
Patricia Krahnke, Brown County Literacy Coalition
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