Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Otero County launched in April of 2011.  Dave Weaver and Patricia Mishkin (who started the program in Cloudcroft) organized a Steering Committee (which later became a Board of Directors) to bring the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to Otero County, NM.  CHINS was instrumental in the program’s start even allowing DPILOOC to be under their 501c3.

Weaver, who was an Alamogordo Public Schools Board Member at the time, began speaking at every civic organization he could.  These groups were key in early funding.  Weaver recalled, “When I retired, I knew they didn’t have it down here because I checked.  Once I got on the school board, it gave me a little credibility…I just started touching base with all the clubs here.”

The rest of the early Steering Committee also began seeking donations and registering children for the program.  Once children are registered, completely free of cost to parents and families, they will receive an age-appropriate book in the mail each month.  The program begins at birth, and children then “graduate” out of the program on their fifth birthday.  If a child is registered since birth, they would have a library of 60 books before they start kindergarten.  At five years old, they will have more access to books through school and can even get a library card.

The first registration event was held during Easter in the Park at Washington Park in April of 2011.  Founding members Karen Forsythe and Ryal McMurry helped register children at the park that day.  Many registration events would follow, and funding was secured for the first few months of books to be mailed out beginning in August of 2011.

McMurry, who would later go on to become President of DPILOOC’s Board of Directors in 2012 (and continues to serve in that role) stated, “We also registered kids at the Otero County Fair later that year, and by the end of 2011 we had over 2,000 children registered for the program!”

Though Weaver left the DPILOOC Board of Directors in 2013, several other founding members are still part of the organization: Mishkin, Forsythe, Julie Baker, Renee French, Lindsay Totten, Tina Martinez, McMurry and even his mother, Cheeta McMurry.  Though Weaver is no longer on the board, he still has a passion for the program and often can be seen handing out information to parents and families when he spots them in and around town.

For all the DPILOOC Board of Directors, which now also includes Jean Anderson, Retta Bedenbaugh, Tracie Eitniear, and Jamie Sherwood, this program is something for which they are all quite passionate.  According to Martinez, “I get involved with a lot of different charities but this is my favorite thing I've ever done. It's the one thing I could really see making a difference.”

French agrees, “It’s so important to get books in the hands of these little ones.”  Research has consistently shown that reading aloud to a child is the single most important thing that parents can do to ensure success in school.

Recently the DPILOOC Board of Directors had a full-circle moment.  “CHINS was such an invaluable help to us in the beginning,” McMurry said, “and, in fact, they helped us get our very own 501c3 too.  So, as we look back on the last ten years, and all that we have accomplished, we wanted to honor that.”

In April 2021, DPILOOC gifted CHINS with class sets of books for each of the classrooms for all of their centers.  Founding DPILOOC Board Members presented CHINS director Nancy Hudson with the books to mark the occasion.  “It is great to be able to revisit the generosity we received when we were just starting out,” McMurry stated, “Ten years later, to be able to pay it forward, is just a really special moment for us.”