Sometimes the biggest victories begin with something as simple as opening a book.
On Monday, the Franklin County Commissioners’ Court welcomed an unexpected visitor, Dolly Parton.
Well…at least a life-sized cutout version!
The famous country music icon made an appearance to honor the Mount Vernon Key Club and the Franklin County library as they celebrated another major milestone for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.
The Mt Vernon Key Club partnered with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library in February of 2025 to provide a free book every month for every child in Franklin County from birth to age five years old. Currently, we have over 138 children in the County enrolled to receive these books. The Dolly Parton Foundation provides books, and Key Club covers the postage to deliver them to homes in Franklin County. The books can be in English or in Spanish.
Recently, Key Club was notified of a grant funded during the 89th Legislative Session. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission was given an opportunity to support the public libraries working with nonprofit organizations to enroll children in a mail-order book program. Because Key Club was already partnering with the DPIL and the Franklin County Library was accredited, Key Club reached out to Lisa Lawrence at the Library to ask whether the Library would be interested in participating. The grant is a 50% match in funds to pay for books from DPIL. The funds are available from September 2, 2025, to August 31, 2027. Key Club’s funding will be backdated to September, 2025.
The Franklin County Library will receive a free life-sized Dolly and other promotional materials to assist Key Club in signing up eligible children. Key Club will receive the monetary grant to assist in providing the service to Franklin County. It was definitely a win for everyone. The Commissioners Court approved the partnership and signed the grant application on Monday, July 27, 2026.
The Mount Vernon Key Club was founded in 1961. The objective of the club is to bring the women of Mount Vernon and Franklin County into closer fellowship, to promote personal improvement, to encourage community service, and to support projects that will contribute to the improvement of our Community. The Club has 30 members. Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month, except in May, June, and July. Annual fundraising projects are Designer Handbag Bingo in April and CountryFest in October. Some of the larger service projects have been assisting with the creation of the Franklin County Library, initiating the development of the Franklin County Arts Alliance Courtyard, supporting the Franklin County Sports Complex, and lighting the downtown for Christmas.
The Dolly Parton Foundation’s mission is to share the life and legacy of Dolly Parton as an inspiration for all children to Dream More, Learn More, Care More, and Be More. As a result of this Mission, the Foundation has created the “Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library” to support early childhood development by providing children from birth to their fifth birthday with monthly, age-appropriate books, free of charge to families.
