Dolly Parton’s most charitable moments over the years
Dolly Parton has to work longer than 9 to 5 to balance her music and impressive charity efforts.
In 2022, Parton was honored with the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy for her decades of good deeds and shared how “proud” she was to receive the recognition. Her acts of kindness include founding The Dollywood Foundation and donating money to vaccine research following the outbreak of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
“What an honor it is to be here. I’m truly honored and proud to stand among these amazing people and do all these amazing things to help the world, as they say,” Parton said in October 2022 while accepting the medal. “I just 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, I will.”
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The Grammy winner continued: “If I can just do my little part in this world, that’s all I ask for in this world. I’m very proud of the Imagination Library, so it’s very close to my heart. I just hope I can continue to do good things.”
Scroll down to see some of Parton’s most charitable moments:
1988
Parton launched her nonprofit organization The Dollywood Foundation in April 1988 in Sevierville, Tennessee. The goal was to increase the number of local high school graduates and reduce dropout rates.
The “Jolene” singer also created the Buddy Program, which gave $500 to every seventh and eighth grader in the area who graduated high school. The start was successful: the failure rate went from 35 percent to just 6 percent, the newspaper said the foundation’s website.
1991
As part of her successful Dollywood theme park, Parton opened the Eagle Mountain Shrine. The space spans 30,000 square feet and is managed by the American Eagle Foundations refuges to help ensure the safety of the bald eagles.
1995
The musician expanded The Dollywood Foundation with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The program donates a book to children under five every month to help with literacy and further education in all parts of the country – and internationally. In 2018, Parton reached a milestone when the Imagination Library released its 100 millionth book.
2000
The foundation initiated five $15,000 scholarships, called the Dolly Parton Scholarship, to Sevier County high school students to help students continue their studies at an accredited university. “The scholarships are intended for students who have a dream they want to pursue and who can successfully communicate their plan and commitment to achieving their dreams,” the website said.
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2007
Parton once again gave back to her community by raising $500,000 for Sevier County Hospital through a benefit concert. Dollywood and Parton’s Dixie Stampede dinner theater have each pledged $250,000, totaling $1 million for the fundraiser. The money was used to open LeConte Medical Center, a hospital and cancer center, in 2010.
2016
After devastating wildfires in Tennessee that tore through the Great Smoky Mountains, Parton founded 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 announced in 2017 that more than $12 million was raised and distributed to people in need last year.
2017
After releasing her children’s album, I believe in youPatron donated $1 million to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital of Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The donation was made in honor of Parton’s niece, who was hospitalized for leukemia.
2020
In spring 2020, Parton was one of several celebrities to design a spatula for Williams-Sonoma’s charity kitchenware collection. 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 coronavirus vaccine research following the global pandemic peak. Parton gave $1 million to support Moderna’s vaccine research, which was reported to be 94.5 percent effective against the virus.
“I’m just happy that everything I do can help someone else,” Parton said Today at the time. “When I donated the money to the COVID fund, I just wanted it to do good. Apparently so. Let’s hope we find a cure soon.”
2021
When Humphreys County, Tennessee experienced unprecedented flooding and damage, Parton took action and raised $700,000 to get people back on their feet. Parton’s Dollywood and Pigeon Forge dinner show 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 choosing a charity. “After the 2016 Sevier County wildfires, Loretta was one of the first to offer everything 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 Loretta’s people for all they did to help my people.”
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Earlier that year, Parton revealed that she used some of the royalties from Whitney Houston’s cover of her song “I Will Always Love You” to give back to a black neighborhood in Nashville. “It was mostly Black families and people who lived around there,” Parton said during an August 2021 appearance Watch what happens live with Andy Cohen, in which she said she was investing in an office complex in the area. “It was a whole strip mall. And I thought, ‘This is the perfect place for me, since it was Whitney.’
She continued: “I just thought, ‘This was amazing. I’m going to be down here with her people, who are also my people.” And so I just love that I spent that money on a complex. And I think, ‘This is the house that Whitney built.’
2022
Parton announced this in February 2022 Dollywood – through its operating partner Herschend Enterprises – would cover 100 percent of tuition, fees and book costs for every employee who attends college to further their education.
Four months later, the “Here You Come Again” singer donated $1 million to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center to support pediatric infectious disease research at the hospital.