If you don’t know Adam and Jessica Stetson – then you’re missing out. Adam is the Pastor or Christ Lutheran Church here in Boulder City, and his wife, Jessica, is the Director of Christian Education at Little Lambs Preschool.
When Jessica and Adam Stetson were pregnant with their fourth child, they received some devastating news. At twenty weeks into the pregnancy, they learned that their to son, Zechariah, had a terminal genetic abnormality called as Trisomy 18, or Edward’s Syndrome. The doctors told them he would be lucky to make it to term, and that his life expectancy would be low.
On January 14th, 2022, Zechariah, whose name means “The Lord Remembers” was born and lived on life support for three days, and passed on January 17th. During that time in the hospital Adam and Jessica of course spent all their time with them they could. His condition made him too fragile to be hold or even touched very often. So, they read to him. This was their way to bond with him.
“Because we believe that the Light of the World entered His creation, and that light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it, Zechariah’s legacy will be more than a tiny urn. We began the non-profit Reading to Z.
Reading to Z’s mission is to increase childhood literacy. One of the best ways to do that is by reading to kids. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, no matter their family’s income. After launching in 1995, the program grew quickly. First books were only distributed to children living in Sevier County, Tennessee where Dolly grew up. It became such a success that in 2000 a national replication effort was underway. By 2003, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library had mailed one million books. It would prove to be the first of many millions of books sent to children around the world. Dolly’s home state of Tennessee pledged to pursue statewide coverage in 2004 and global expansion was on the horizon. After the United States, the program launched in Canada in 2006 followed by the United Kingdom in 2007, Australia in 2013 and the Republic of Ireland in 2019. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library groups can be found all over the world and depend on local nonprofit groups providing the funds to cover the program in their zip code.
Reading to Z is one of those local nonprofit groups for our community of Boulder City. We are an official affiliate of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
As part of Zechariah’s legacy, we would like every child, from birth to age five, in Boulder City to receive a book every month. We got 3 wonderful days to read to our son. We hope to foster a lifetime of wonderful reading for the kids in our community.”
You can meet Adam and here this story from his words in this recent Boulder City Podcast with Roger Gros, HERE.
The average retail cost of Imagination Library titles is about $13 per book. However, by purchasing in volume, the Imagination Library is able to acquire and mail customized titles for about $2.10 per child per month. You can Learn More and Donate HERE.
That’s about $25/year and $125 for a child to receive a book every month from birth to age 5.
The first year’s cost of $5,000 for Imagination Library will be paid by Adam and Jessica Stetson with memorial money from Zechariah’s funeral. The plan after that will be to raise funds in order to cover the ongoing yearly costs. The big dream is to have an endowment that covers the expenses in perpetuity.
