Dolly Parton he has to work longer than the 9 to 5 to balance his music and impress charitable efforts.
In 2022 Parton was honored with the Carnegie Medal for Philanthropy for her decades of good deeds and gushed about how “proud” she was to receive the recognition. Her good deeds include establishing The Dollywood Foundation and donating funds to vaccine research following the outbreak of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
“What an honor it is just to be here. “I’m really just honored and proud to be around these great people and do all these great things to help the world, as they say,” Parton said in October 2022. acceptance of the medal. “I just give from the 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, I will.”
Shine! Fringe! Mini dresses! Dolly Parton is as much a fashion icon as she is a music legend. The “Just Since I’m a Woman” singer has never been one to shy away from making a style statement on and off the red carpet. From opulent outfits to figure-hugging ensembles, she’s slayed it all. Although (…)
The Grammy winner continued, “If I can do my little part in this world, then that’s all I want in this world. I am very proud of the Imagination Library, so it is very dear to me. I just hope I can keep doing good things.
Scroll down to see some of Parton’s most charitable moments:
1988
Parton started her non-profit organization, The Dollywood Foundation, in April 1988. in Sevierville, Tennessee. The goal was to increase the number of local high school graduates and reduce the dropout rate.
The “Jolene” singer also created the Buddy Program, which gives $500 to every seventh- and eighth-grader in the area who graduates from high school. The start was successful, with the dropout rate rising from 35% to just 6%, according to the foundation’s website.
1991
As part of her successful Dollywood theme park, Parton opened Eagle Mountain Sanctuary. The space spans 30,000 square feet and is managed by the American Eagle Foundations shelters to ensure the safety of bald eagles.
1995
The musician expanded The Dollywood Foundation with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The program gives children under five a book a month to help them with literacy and further education in all areas of the country — and internationally. In 2018, Parton reached a milestone as the Imagination Library shipped its 100 millionth book.
2000
The foundation started five $15,000 scholarships, called the Dolly Parton Scholarship, for high school seniors in Sevier County 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 make their dreams a reality,” the website says.
Dolly Parton and her husband, Carl Dean, have been married for more than 50 years, but they’re 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 once again gave back to her community by helping raise $500,000 for Sevier County Hospital by performing a benefit concert. Dollywood and Parton’s Dixie Stampede dinner theater each pledged $250,000, for a total of $1 million in fundraising. The funds were used to open LeConte Medical Center, a hospital and cancer center, in 2010.
2016
After the devastating wildfires in Tennessee that tore through the Great Smoky Mountains, Parton created the My People Fund under the umbrella of her Dollywood Foundation. The fund distributes $1,000 per month for six months to families who have lost their primary residence. The foundation revealed in 2017 that more than $12 million had been raised and distributed to those in need in the past year.
2017
After releasing her children’s album, I believe in youPatron donates $1 million to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt Medical Center. The donation was made in honor of Parton’s niece, who was being treated for leukemia at the hospital.
2020
In the spring of 2020 Parton was one of many celebrities who designed spatula for the Williams-Sonoma Collection of Charity Kitchenware. Parton’s design helped raise money for the company’s annual Cook for a Cause campaign.
That same year, the actress made headlines for donating money to research a coronavirus vaccine after the peak of the global pandemic. Parton gave $1 million to support Moderna’s vaccine research that was reported to be 94.5 percent effective against the virus.
“I’m just happy that whatever I do can help somebody else,” Parton said Today at that time. “When I donated the money to the COVID fund, I just wanted it to be good. Obviously it is. Let’s hope we find a cure soon.”
2021
When Humphreys County in Tennessee suffered unprecedented flooding and damage, Parton stepped up and raised $700,000 to get people back on their feet. Parton’s Dollywood and Pigeon Forge dinner properties donated a portion of ticket sales during two dates in October 2021. to benefit the United Way of Humphreys County.
Parton’s late friend Loretta Lynn was responsible for the charity selection. “After the 2016 Sevier County wildfires, Loretta was one of the first to reach out to offer whatever she could.” Parton said in a statement. “It meant so much to me that Loretta – and so many people – were willing to give what they could. This was just one small way I could help Loretta’s people for all they did to help my people.
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Earlier that year, Parton revealed that she had used some of the copyright from Whitney Houston cover of her song “I Will Always Love You” to give back to the black neighborhood in Nashville. “It was mostly black families and people living around,” Parton said during an appearance in August 2021. Watch what’s happening live with Andy Cohensharing that she has invested in an office complex in the area. “It was a whole shopping mall. And I thought, ‘This is the perfect place for me, considering it was Whitney.’
She continued: “I just thought, ‘That was great.’ I will be down here with her people, who are also my people. And so I just love the fact that I spent that money on a complex. And I’m thinking, “This is the house that Whitney built.”
2022
Parton announced in February 2022 that Dollywood — through its operating partner Herschend Enterprises — will begin covering 100 percent of the tuition, fees and book costs for each employee who goes to college to further their education.
Four months later, Singer of “Here You Come Again”. donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center to support pediatric infectious disease research at the hospital.
2024
Parton in person promised a million dollars to the Mountain Ways Foundation, which helped communities in East Tennessee that were affected by Hurricane Helene. Her donation will be matched by her companies, which include the Dollywood Foundation and Dollywood Parks and Resorts. The East Tennessee native said she will be making the donations in partnership with Walmart.
