From now on, every baby born at UK Golisano Children's Hospital can enroll in Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, a program that mails books to children from birth to age five.

Katie was at the hospital for the program's kickoff on Wednesday.

As Dolly herself once said, we cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails because when we put books in the hands of children and support parents as their first teachers, we're investing in everything that comes next.

Every baby born, it goes on.

A children's that UK will be in can be enrolled into the program, in which they will receive a free book every month for their first five years, which is huge.

Not only that, when they leave the hospital, they'll be ready to start a full life of possibilities.

And if you think about the number of babies, that's been a huge amount of time in this facility.

That's a lot of children across the state that will be affected.

We do treat diseases and we treat broken bones, and we treat a lot of things, but a lot of it's about how do we invest in the future.

You're more likely to end up in our E.R.

if you can't, Reba.

Third grade, actually.

And it's not because of the reading.

It's just a reflection of the struggles that our families have across the Kentucky.

Won't you please pull our train over the mountain?

We make resources accessible and easy to use.

Families do and will respond.

And that's where that real impact is in those everyday moments at home that build language, confidence and curiosity long before a child enters the classroom.

You know, what makes this effort so meaningful is not just the books themselves, but what they represent.

Time spent together, imagination and connection between a child and their family.

And as a mom, we all know how important bedtime reading is before you go to sleep.

And having books that are accessible is so important.

There is no better place to start than here, where families can leave not only with excellent care, but with the tools to keep learning at home.

What were all of those good little boys and girls on the other side of the mountain going to do without those wonderful toys to play with and the good food to eat?

In Kentucky today, more than 136,000 children are already enrolled in the Imagination Library.

That's about half of our kids in Kentucky under the age of five.

That means more story time.

We're bonding and stronger foundations for the future of learning for those children throughout Kentucky.

It is going to accelerate the future of our Commonwealth and in ways that we cannot even imagine.

Partnerships like this one right here start the foundation for every child's life.

It helps ensure that we begin with the opportunity and to the families here.

Those few minutes that you spend reading together matter more than you could ever imagine.

The money for the program is from the Kentucky General Assembly and community partners.