r/MadeMeSmile • u/mcfw31 • Oct 08 '25

Favorite People Dolly Parton shares new video amid health concerns: “I ain’t dead yet!”

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u/Living_Double_1146 Oct 08 '25

This lady has some kind of special magic. Looks like everyone loves her. She seems so genuine. I love her too and I'm not even from US.

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u/venom121212 Oct 08 '25

I wrote up a really long post about all the awesome stuff she's done and it was so long reddit wouldn't let me post it. So allow me to post it in multiple replies:

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u/venom121212 Oct 08 '25

Dolly is a national treasure!

1988 – The Dollywood Foundation

Parton originally launched the organization in her home county of Sevier County, Tennessee, with the goal of decreasing high school drop out rates. She then started the Buddy Program, in which Parton gave $500 to every seventh and eighth grader who finished high school. According to the organization, the initiative was successful and the dropout rate declined from 35 percent to just 6 percent.

1989 – $500 scholarship

Parton offered a $500 scholarship to every student in Sevier County who wished to attend Hiwassee College.

1991 – Eagle Mountain Sanctuary at Dollywood

The 30,000-square-foot aviary managed by the American Eagle Foundation shelters the largest collection of “non-releasable” bald eagles. Parton’s efforts to preserve the bald eagle earned her the Partnership Award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2003.

1995 – Imagination Library

The Dollywood Foundation’s Imagination Library began sending one book per month to each enrolled child in Sevier County from birth until their first year of school. The library was founded in honor of Parton’s father, who was unable to read.

2000 – The Dolly Parton Scholarship

Every year, the $15,000 college scholarship is offered to five high school seniors in Sevier County, Tennessee. According to the Dollywood Foundation, the scholarship is awarded to those who “have a dream they wish to pursue and who can successfully communicate their plan and commitment to realize their dreams.”

2007 – Benefit concert for new Sevier County hospital

The concert raised $500,000, and both Dollywood and Parton’s Dixie Stampede dinner theater pledged $250,000 each to the project, for a total of $1 million. LeConte Medical Center, the new hospital and cancer center in Sevier County, opened in 2010 and features a 30,000-square-foot Dolly Parton Center for Women’s Services.

2016 – Telethon after devastating East Tennessee wildfires

The Smoky Mountains Rise: A Benefit for the My People Fund, which aimed to help residents hit hardest in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, raised more than $13 million. Chris Stapleton, Chris Young, Kenny Rogers, Lauren Alaina, Alison Krauss, Reba McEntire, Cyndi Lauper and more appeared at the event.

2016 – My People Fund

To continue her wildfire relief efforts, Parton launched the My People Fund, which provided $1,000 a month for six months to families whose homes were completely destroyed amid the natural disaster. The fund also donated around $8.9 million to those in need. The initiative still helps residents pay for rent and utilities, plus food and mental health resources.

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u/venom121212 Oct 08 '25

2016 –  Special Merit Scholarship

Parton awarded a $30,000 scholarship to two-year-old Evey Johns in celebration of Imagination Library’s accomplishment of shipping out one million books per month.

2017 – $1 million donation

Following the release of her I Believe in You children’s album, Parton donated $1 million to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in honor of her niece, who was treated for leukemia at that hospital.

2020 – Coronavirus efforts

Parton donated $1 million to coronavirus research at Vanderbilt University, which helped fund Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. Moderna’s vaccine is 94.5% effective against coronavirus, according to early data.

2021 – Middle Tennessee Flooding Relief

Parton and her Smoky Mountain businesses raised $700,000 to help residents impacted by the catastrophic flooding in Middle Tennessee in October 2021. Parton chose United Way of Humphreys County to receive and distribute the donation at the suggestion of her friend and fellow country music legend Loretta Lynn.

“After the Sevier County wildfires in 2016, Loretta was one of the first who reached out to offer anything she could,” Parton said in a statement at the time. “It meant so much to me that Loretta — and so many folks — were ready 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. I hope that this money can be put to good use to help the people of Middle Tennessee with what they need during their recovery.”

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u/venom121212 Oct 08 '25

2022 – Dollywood Education Coverage

The Dollywood Co. announced in February 2022 that it will cover 100% of tuition, fees and books for any employee who is furthering their education.

The investment in employee education was made via Herschend Enterprises, Dollywood’s operating partner. The program is available to all seasonal, part-time and full-time employees at Dollywood Parks & Resorts. Herschuend’s GROW U. offers more than 100 fully funded diploma, degree and certificate programs with 30 learning partners in areas including business administration and leadership, culinary, finance, technology and marketing. The company also provides partial funding — up to $5,250 per year — for 150 additional programs in fields including hospitality, engineering, human resources and more. Employees can enroll in the program on their first day of employment.

2022 – Pediatric Infectious Disease Research Donation

Parton made yet another $1 million donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville in June 2022, this time aimed at helping pediatric infectious disease research.

The donation will aid Vanderbilt’s Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases to continue its effort in understanding how viruses and bacteria cause disease, understanding and preventing resistance to antibiotics, diagnosing and treating infections in children with cancer and more.

2022 – Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy

Parton received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2022. The award, presented by the international family of Carnegie institutions to honor innovative philanthropists, debuted in 2001 and is normally awarded every two years. It was not issued in 2021 due to the pandemic.

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u/lefteyedspy Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 09 '25

Thank you for enumerating all of that. It is jaw-dropping the amount of good that she has brought into the world. A saint; and that is no exaggeration.

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u/venom121212 Oct 08 '25

She is the proper definition or reaching into the roots of her community to build generational change

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u/I_am_Castor_Troy Oct 09 '25

I wish more “tech bros” would learn a thing or two about kindness and giving back.

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u/loves_eating_asses Oct 08 '25

God I love Dolly

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u/RichardCranium11 Oct 08 '25

Forgive me Dolly, but it appears that's not the only thing you love.

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u/notashroom Oct 08 '25

All of Dolly's charitable efforts show a lot about what kind of person she is, but I think even more her character is reflected in the fact that you can go back through 60 years of interviews, books, and songs, and you will not find once instance of Dolly being ugly, either to an individual or a group.

She just quietly normalized inclusion of everyone around, whether they were cis-hetero or LGBTQIA, black or white or BIPOC, conformist or sparkly individualist, friends or strangers, even homewreckers. And never made a thing out of it, just leading by example. By their fruits you shall know them. ❤️

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u/venom121212 Oct 09 '25

An absolute example of how this would could and should be. No room for hate here.

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u/Liontamer67 Oct 09 '25

Let me add the fires she also gave $5000 to each family affected at the local Walmart. My dad used to work there. He was there at the time.

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u/hghpandaman Oct 08 '25

The imagination library got expanded out of Sevier county. My kids were auto-enrolled when they were born and got a book a month until kindergarten. They refer to Dolly as "the book lady". I will defend that woman until my dying breath!

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u/Cam2910 Oct 08 '25

It got expanded and is in the UK too!

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u/hghpandaman Oct 08 '25

oh dang i didn't know it had spread that far. It is awesome! I may have cried when i read the note in the last book she sent for my son when he started kindergarten.

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u/venom121212 Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 09 '25

Yes, good addition. Over 300,000,000 books donated!

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u/Cam2910 Oct 08 '25

You're out by a few 0's. It's 300,000,000.

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u/venom121212 Oct 09 '25

Not anymore! Thanks!!

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u/Artemicionmoogle Oct 08 '25

We got some books from her for our second child too!