We received a lovely letter from the Friends of Casey County who received a grant in 2022. Thank you so much for your kind words, and congratulations to you on the success you were able to achieve during your 8 month long initiative! Check out their website for more info on the Reading Dragons, and other events such as their local meetings and book sales at https://www.caseylibrary.org/

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June 9, 2023
Dear Friends of Kentucky Libraries,
Thank you for choosing the Friends of the Casey County Public Library to be a recipient of the $500 grant last fall. Your assistance has allowed our group to make a lasting impact on our rural community. It was an honor to be able to financially assist our library with the Reading Dragons program. 479 people of all ages signed up for this program, with participants as young as four and ranging up into the mid-eighties. This far exceeded our
expectations.
Reading Dragons was an eight-month reading initiative, where participants needed to read a set amount of hours monthly to collect Reading Dragon cards. There were even special holographic Reading Dragon cards that required extra work to get, whether it was attending an event or completing an activity. Grant funding made these special cards possible by supplying the specific paper needed to make holographics.
The Friends of the Casey County Public Library sponsored a monthly Battle Dragons program, where participants could bring in their Reading Dragons cards and battle each other for prizes. There were two winners each month: one for adults and one for children. Grant funds supplied prizes for these, ranging from small gift fillers like window clings and dragon hatching eggs, to unique Reading Dragon merchandise, including custom T-shirts with dragons on them.
The Reading Dragons program officially wrapped up with a finale in May, which had 84 attendees of all ages. There was a carnival-style setup with games and activities that awarded raffle tickets, and participants could put their tickets into different raffles they hoped to win. Thanks to your generous grant, the Friends of the Casey County Public Library were able to provide the prizes for this final event, including eight custom Reading Dragon T-shirts, dragon books (including one signed by the Kentucky author!), remote-controlled dragons, dragon activity sets, and more! We are hoping to get pictures of the winners of the Reading Dragon shirts when they’re finished, but all the recipients have been notified and were beyond excited.
Reading Dragons has been such a success that the program has even caught the interest of Amy Olson, Youth Services Consultant at KDLA, who is looking into the feasibility of KDLA providing this program statewide.
It’s rewarding when a program opens the door to reading, especially to those who don’t like to read.
Over $500 was spent on this program altogether, but your generous grant made it possible for Reading Dragons to grow much larger than anyone had anticipated. The Friends are so thankful for the grant, which helped make this program a success.
Sincerely,
The Friends of the Casey County Public Library