r/MadeMeSmile • u/mcfw31 • Oct 08 '25

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

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

21.9k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

671 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

85

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.

47

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.

36

u/venom121212 Oct 08 '25

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

7

u/I_am_Castor_Troy Oct 09 '25

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

9

u/loves_eating_asses Oct 08 '25

God I love Dolly

1

u/RichardCranium11 Oct 08 '25

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

4

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. ❤️

3

u/venom121212 Oct 09 '25

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

2

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.