We might not deserve Dolly Parton , but she’s truly the hero we need in these trying times. The country singer is beloved by all, and not just because of her musical talents.
As fans of Parton most likely know, she’s a huge giver, donating to charities and those in need. Now, Dolly Parton is about to do a lot more good with the money she’s been gifted by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Over the weekend, Parton was awarded money by the Bezos Courage and Civility Award, to the tune of $100 million. I, for one, can’t think of anyone more deserving.
Parton Was Announced As the Recipient of the Award on November 12th
In a video Bezos uploaded to Twitter (which Parton later quote-Tweeted with her own words of thanks), he and partner Lauren Sanchez took the stage to introduce the country star.
“She gives with her heart. What she’s done for kids, literacy and so many other things is just incredible,” he said, just before bringing Parton up to the stage, and allowing her to give a few words to the audience.
“When people are in a position to help, you should help, and I know that I’ve always said I try to put my money where my heart is,” she said during her own speech.
Dolly Parton Is No Stranger to Giving Back
In fact, she’s used her fortunes to fund several philanthropic causes. In 2020, Parton famously donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University , whose research helped develop the Moderna vaccine to fight against the COVID-19 virus.
In March of 2021, Parton did her part in curbing the spread of COVID, posting a video of herself receiving a dose of the Moderna vaccine in a Tweet she captioned, “Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine.” Nearly 5 million people saw it on the platform.
Her Efforts Go Beyond Healthcare and Disease Prevention
One of Parton’s lesser-known (but still incredibly important) philanthropic efforts is her program to promote children’s literacy. Since 1995, Parton’s Imagination Library has been sending free books to children in need.
Starting with just the children of Tennessee, the program has expanded over the decades. Now, it has donated over 150 million books to kids in 5 different countries, meaning millions of kids worldwide have learned to read in part thanks to Dolly Parton.
She truly does deserve this award.
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With This New $100 Million, Parton Can Do So Much More Good for the World
Beyond her health and children’s literacy ventures, Dolly Parton has also donated money to people impacted by natural disasters, such as the 2016 wildfires in Tennessee. With this money, she’s about to help a lot more people in many different circumstances.
Parton was originally going to turn the award down, believing that she wasn’t worthy of it. But after learning that it wasn’t exclusively for rock stars, she decided to accept.
It almost feels like that humility is another reason she deserves the award so much.
h/t Yahoo!
