When is a Coat Drive, not just a coat drive? When Imagination Library is invited to set up a table! 

The Broomfield Kiwanis had seen us at other events and asked us to come to their coat drive.  Being a school day, at noon, they figured kids accompanying their parents would be in our age range.  Perfect!  On Friday, November 1, Linda and Dennis Kennedy set up their table of books outside of FISH, next to the Kiwanis, and began scouring for children under 5. 
 

Sure enough, between the racks of coats in the parking lot, little feet appeared.  After checking out with free coats, hats and mittens, the Kiwanis sent them our way.  Since we had extra books, we let interested children select a book to keep while we explained the program to parents and gave them a bookmark with the QR code to register. Most of the families were Spanish speaking and delighted to see so many bilingual children’s books. One dad stood right there and signed up his daughter for the program.  By Saturday morning we had another four kids signed up! 

Catching FISH clients as they entered and exited was the perfect spot for us to find the kids we have been missing in the preschools and daycares. The parents were excited to hear of the program and appreciated having the opportunity for their kids.   One mother of a 9-year-old came over to tell us that her son had been in the program and loved it.  He looked forward to his book arriving every month and having her read it to him.  She says he still loves books.

A huge thank you to the Kiwanis for including us so we could connect with another community of Broomfield.

Linda Kennedy

Here is an update on the current data for the Imagination Library: As of 11/4/2024 we have

• 635 active children.
• 6 additional registrations
• 77 graduations

The total number of children we have reached since starting the program is 718.  

We've typically averaged around 43 registrations per month but in October we only had 23.  There could be a number of reasons for this drop but between Friday afternoon and Sunday night we added 6 more registrations. From our experience working with Kiwanis at FISH, it appears we're missing the lower-income and Spanish-speaking families. 

Please share any ideas you have for improving our outreach to this group. 

Dennis