AEP Ohio Foundation Awards Grants to Adams County Literacy, Food Programs

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program and a Manchester food pantry that serves more than 1,400 households annually each received $5,000 from the AEP Ohio Foundation, directing money into a county that carries Ohio's highest unemployment rate and the highest food insecurity rate in the greater Tri-State area.

Leadership Adams, Inc. received $5,000 to fund monthly book mailings through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Ohio, the age-zero-to-five program that delivers age-appropriate books directly to children's homes each month at no cost to families. Manchester Community Care Center, the volunteer-run food pantry and clothing bank at 212 East Second Street in Manchester, received an equal grant to purchase food for local families experiencing food insecurity.

The Manchester Community Care Center has operated without paid staff since its founding in 2002 under the direction of Ben Wright. What began as a service for 38 families has expanded to reach more than 1,400 households annually, including children, seniors, and individuals experiencing homelessness. The center is a federally approved Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) agency and runs an open-choice pantry, allowing clients to select from a mix of fresh and shelf-stable foods suited to their needs. The Adams County Community Foundation also recognized the center through its sixth "Neighbors Helping Neighbors" holiday initiative, illustrating the organization's standing across multiple local funding streams.

The Imagination Library grant builds on a partnership Leadership Adams launched in late 2019 alongside the Adams County Public Libraries, with branches in West Union, Peebles, Manchester, and North Adams, and the Adams County Board of Developmental Disabilities. Ohio covers half the program's per-child cost through the state budget; local partners, including Leadership Adams, fund the remainder. The program has gained remarkable traction statewide: Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine recently announced that 60 percent of the state's eligible children from birth to age five are now enrolled, with 400,611 children receiving books in January alone. That figure marks a steep climb from the 13 percent enrollment rate when Ohio launched its statewide program in 2019. Ohio now leads all U.S. states in total Imagination Library participation, and more than 15 million books have been mailed to Ohio children since the program's statewide launch. Dolly Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995, inspired by her father's inability to read or write; it now mails more than one million free books each month to children worldwide.

The grants arrive in a county carrying some of the steepest poverty indicators in Ohio. A 2019 report identified Adams County as the state's poorest, with a 23.8 percent poverty rate and a median household income of $36,320, roughly $16,000 below the state average. Per capita income stands at $14,515, and 20.3 percent of county residents under age 18 live below the poverty line. On food insecurity, Adams County posted a 19.7 percent rate in data reported by WVXU and Feeding America in May 2024, the highest figure across the greater Tri-State and Cincinnati Public Radio listening areas, outpacing neighboring Brown County's 16.6 percent rate.

The AEP Ohio Foundation distributed more than $1.5 million in grants to over 100 organizations across its service territory in 2025. For Manchester Community Care Center, which relies entirely on volunteer labor and outside funding, the $5,000 grant represents direct purchasing power for the food staples its client households depend on throughout the year.