About

In The Beginning

It all started when Rich Lagemann read an article in the American Profiles magazine inserted into our local weekly newspaper the Warren County Record. The story featured an organization in another town that presented handcrafted bookcases and books to place on the shelves so that low-income children would have greater access to reading materials at home—a key factor in early literacy and educational achievement.

Rich, a retired educator and administrator—who had seen first-hand the need to improve early literacy in Warren County, Missouri—reached out to fellow retired teachers and other community members with a background in literacy development for help. Community members sponsored bookcases to fund the materials needed to construct them. Volunteers shared their time and talents to build the bookcases. Retired teachers organized book drives to gather new and gently used books. From 2011 until 2023, the group presented 820 bookcases and 20,500 books through the Bookcase Project.

Expansion

In 2013, the group expanded its mission to promote literacy in Warren County, Missouri, by building, installing, and maintaining Little Free Libraries at locations in Wright City, Warrenton and Pendleton.

Today

Through our Books From Birth program, Warren County Literacy serves as the local champion to bring Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to young children living in Warren County, Missouri. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free books to children from birth to age 5 in participating communities. Since 2020, the group has enrolled more than 500 children in the program and continues its outreach to enroll more kids and raise funds to sustain this program for the long term.

You may also spot Warren County Literacy volunteers In the Community handing out books at family friendly events such as local Trunk-or-Treat, Pancakes with Santa, and Cookies with Santa events.