Everett-based United Way of Snohomish County is asking residents to honor Dolly Parton by funding the singer's signature literacy program locally, where it has already put more than 375,000 books into children's hands.

Parton died Tuesday, Aug. 25, in Nashville at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer. Her family asked that donations be made to the Imagination Library in lieu of flowers.

The request landed close to home.

United Way launched the Imagination Library of Snohomish County in 2023, and the program has since engaged more than 20,000 children countywide and graduated more than 6,900 early readers into kindergarten, according to the Everett Post. United Way describes it as one of the largest Imagination Library programs in Washington state.

The program mails one age-appropriate book per month to each registered child from birth until age five, at no cost to the family.

The Dollywood Foundation covers overhead and administration nationally, while local partners like United Way fund the books and delivery in their areas, Forbes reported.

"The most meaningful tribute we can offer is to make sure her work continues for the next generation," Inga Paige, executive director of United Way of Snohomish County, said in a statement Aug. 26.

Parton started the Imagination Library in 1995 as a tribute to her father, who could not read. Globally, the program has distributed more than 300 million books across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Republic of Ireland. At the time of Parton's death, it was sending books to more than three million children per month.

In a 2018 interview with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, Parton described why mailing books directly to children mattered: "We send the book in the mail with their name on it. It's not in the care of Mom and Dad — it's got their little name on it, and they love to think, 'This is mine.' They wait at the mailbox."

For Snohomish County families, the math is simple. A $31 donation provides one child with 12 books over a year. A $156 gift sponsors a child from birth through age five. Donations can be made at uwsc.org/sponsor-child.