Special to The Hays Daily News

The West Central Kansas Smart Start program announced its acceptance of a grant from the Heartland Community Foundation. The $350 grant will be used to provide funds to the Rooks and Rush County Imagination Library programs.

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is an early literacy program that supplies age-appropriate, free books to children younger than 5. Books arrive in the mail once a month addressed to the child. The program is free and available to all children younger than 5 in Rush and Rooks counties. The program serves 39 children in Rush and 74 children in Rooks counties. The program is coordinated through the West Central Kansas Smart Start program.

"We want to thank the Heartland Community Foundation for their generous gift," said Smart Start coordinator Dana Stanton. "Early literacy is a key to kindergarten readiness. The grant will help us continue to put quality books in the hands of parents and their young children."

The Heartland Community Foundation is a vehicle for charitable giving capable of benefitting west-central Kansas. The foundation is a permanent source of charitable assets to meet emerging, as well as existing, needs of the community.