Dolly Parton just earned $100 million richer — thanks to Jeff Bezos. Legendary country singer and songwriter Dolly Parton has been awarded a $100 million Courage and Civility award by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his partner, Lauren Sanchez. The cash is to be directed toward charities that the recipient sees fit, Sanchez said Friday while declaring the award.
Jeff Bezos selected Dolly Parton as the 2022 recipient of his Courage and Charities Award, as a person who “leads with her heart.”
While the funds she procured don’t go towards her own fortune, they will and can go to any organization(s) of Dolly Parton’s choice.
Lauren Sánchez, Bezos’ girlfriend, noticed that the award “recognizes leaders who aim high, find solutions, and always do it with civility.”
Jeff Bezos acclaimed Parton, 76, for generally that “she’s done for kids, literacy, and so many other things.”
Making The Dollywood Foundation in 1988, Dolly Parton prioritized education in youth. From this, The Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was born, which predominately offers books to young children and scholarships to high school students. In 2016, she established The My People Fund, to help those affected by fire in Sevier Country, her hometown county.
“When people are in a position to help, you should help,” Dolly Parton stated, upon accepting the award.
“I know that I’ve always said, I try to put my money where my heart is. And I think you do the same thing,” she said to Jeff Bezos. “I will do my best to do good things with this money,” she added.
In 1986, Parton established the Dollywood Foundation, a non-profit organization that started by offering scholarships to local secondary school students in the singer’s home state of Tennessee. The foundation developed to incorporate Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a program that sends child-free books from birth until the age of 5.
The 76-year-old music icon has long been known as a philanthropist. Her Dollywood Foundation, pointed toward helping graduation rates in her home county, was launched in 1988, as per the foundation’s website. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to progress in years five, regardless of their family’s income, was then launched in 1995, the website said.
Notwithstanding her own organization, Parton has assisted with funding The LeConte Medical Center in Sevierville, Tennessee, as well as the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Moderna.
In 2020, Dolly Parton donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University’s Medical Center to help her friend, Dr. Naji Abumrad, develop the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Parton proceeded to receive her vaccine from Abumrad himself in a video wherein she urged others to get vaccinated too.
In 2016, Dolly Parton hosted “Smoky Mountains Rise: A Benefits for the My People Fund,” a live telethon that fund-raised for people whose homes were destroyed by wildfires in the Great Smoky Mountains.
The award began in 2001, with prizes going to activist Van Jones and chef and humanitarian Jose Andres, who established World Central Kitchen, which gives food in disaster-stricken regions around the world.
Dolly Parton – a singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman, and philanthropist – was drafted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier this month.
She has been a high-profile supporter of charities and established the Dollywood Foundation, which has given books to children around the world.
Dolly Parton has likewise been a vocal advocate of vaccination against Coronavirus.
She supported Moderna with a $1m donation for coronavirus research to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
Among her philanthropic efforts in her home state of Tennessee, Dolly Parton likewise made the Dolly Parton Scholarship, which gives $15,000 to recipients towards a college education.
Last year, Jeff Bezos awarded $100 million each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef José Andrés.
Jeff Bezos, the founder and former head of Amazon.com, said at a news conference at the time the grant had no strings attached.
“They can give it all to their own charity,” Jeff Bezos said last year. “Or they can share the wealth. It is up to them.”
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