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Dolly Parton she has to work more than 9 to 5 to balance her music and striking charitable efforts.
In 2022, Parton was honored with the Carnegie Philanthropy Medal for her decades of good deeds and expressed how “proud” she was to receive the recognition. Her acts of kindness include creating The Dollywood Foundation and donating money to vaccine research after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
“What an honor it is to be here. I’m really honored and proud to be among these great people and do all these great things to help the world, as they say,” Parton said in October 2022 while receive the medal. “I give from my heart. I never know what I’m going to do or why I’m going to do it. I just see a need and if I can fill it then I will.”
Glitter! Marginal! Mini dresses! Dolly Parton is as much a fashion icon as she is a music legend. The “Just Because I’m a Woman” singer has never been one to shy away from making a style statement on the red carpet and beyond. From loud getups to figure hugging ensembles – she’s killed it all. Although (…)
The Grammy winner continued: “If I can do my little part in this world, that’s all I ask in this world. I’m very proud of the Imagination Library, so that’s very dear to me. I hope I can continue to do good things.”
Scroll down to see some of Parton’s most charitable moments:
1988
Parton launched her non-profit organization The Dollywood Foundation in April 1988 in Sevierville, Tennessee. The aim was to increase the number of local high school graduates and reduce the dropout rate.
The “Jolene” singer also created the Buddy Program, which awarded $500 to every seventh- and eighth-grader in the district who finished high school. The launch was successful with the dropout rate going from 35 per cent to just 6 per cent, according to the organization’s website.
1991
As part of her successful theme park, Dollywood, Parton opened the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary. The space spans over 30,000 square feet and is managed by the American Eagle Foundations shelters to help ensure the safety of the bald eagles.
1995
The musician expanded the Dollywood Foundation with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The program gives a monthly book to children under the age of five to help with literacy and further learning in all parts of the country – and internationally. In 2018, Parton reached a milestone as the Imagination Library sent out its 100 millionth book.
2000
The foundation started five $15,000 scholarships, dubbed the Dolly Parton Scholarship, for Sevier County high school seniors to help students continue their studies at an accredited university. “The scholarships are for students who have a dream they wish to pursue and who can successfully communicate their plan and commitment to making their dreams a reality,” the website reads.
Dolly Parton and her husband, Carl Dean, have been married for more than 50 years, but they are rarely seen together — and that’s just the way they like it. The country icon first met her future husband when she moved to Nashville in 1964 to begin her music career. They tied the knot within two (…)
2007
Parton gave back to her community once again by helping raise $500,000 for Sevier County Hospital by hosting a benefit concert. Dollywood’s Dixie Stampede dinner theater and Parton pledged $250,000 each, totaling $1 million for the fundraiser. The money was used to open the LeConte Medical Center, a hospital and cancer centre, in 2010.
2016
Following the devastating wildfires in Tennessee that tore through the Great Smoky Mountains, Parton created the My People Fund under her Dollywood Foundation umbrella. The fund distributed $1,000 per month for six months to families who lost their primary residence. The foundation revealed in 2017 that more than $12 million had been raised and distributed to those in need in that past year.
2017
After releasing her children’s album, I Believe in YouThe Sponsor donated $1 million to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital. Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The donation was made in honor of Parton’s niece who was treated for leukemia at the hospital.
2020
In the spring of 2020, Parton was one of many celebrities who planning spatula for the Williams-Sonoma collection of charity kitchenware. Parton’s scheme helped raise money for the company’s annual Chef for a Cause campaign.
That same year, the actress made headlines for donating money to coronavirus vaccine research following the global pandemic spike. Parton gave $1 million to aid Moderna’s vaccine research, which was reported to be 94.5 percent effective against the virus.
“I’m happy that anything I do can help someone else,” Parton said Today at the time. “When I gave the money to the COVID fund, I wanted it to do good. Obviously, it is. Hopefully we’ll find a real cure soon.”
2021
When Humphreys County in Tennessee experienced unprecedented flooding and damage, Parton stepped up and raised $700,000 to get people back on their feet. Dollywood and Parton’s Pigeon Forge dinner show properties donated a portion of ticket sales during two October 2021 dates to benefit the United Way of Humphreys County.
Parton’s late friend, Loretta Lynn, was responsible for the selection in charity. “After the Sevier County wildfires in 2016, Loretta was one of the first to reach out to offer anything she could,” Parton said in a statement. “It meant so much to me that Loretta – and so many people – were willing to give in any way they could. This was just one small way I could help the people of Loretta for all they did to help my people.”
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Earlier that year, Parton revealed that she was using some of the royalties from Whitney Houston cover from her song “I Will Always Love You” to give back to a Black neighborhood in Nashville. “Mostly Black families and people who lived around there,” Parton said during an August 2021 appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohensharing that she has invested in office complexes in the area. “It was a whole strip mall. And I thought, ‘This is the perfect place for me to be, considering it was Whitney.'”
He continued: “I thought, ‘This was great. I’m going to be down here with her people, who are my people too.’ And so I love the fact that I spent that money on a complex. And I think, ‘This is the house that Whitney built.'”
2022
Parton announced in February 2022 that Dollywood – through its operating partner Herschend Enterprises – will begin paying 100 percent of tuition, fees and books for any employee who goes to college to further their education.
Four months later, the “Here You Come Again” singer. donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center to help the hospital’s pediatric infectious disease research.
2024
Parton in person promised a million dollars to the Mountain Ways Foundation, which helped East Tennessee communities affected by Hurricane Helene. Her contribution would be matched by her companies, which included the Dollywood Foundation and Dollywood Parks and Resorts. The East Tennessee native shared that he would be doing the giveaways in partnership with Walmart.
