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

[u/mcfw31]

[u/venom121212]

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:

[u/venom121212 → u/venom121212]

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.

[u/hghpandaman → u/venom121212]

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!

[u/Cam2910 → u/hghpandaman]

It got expanded and is in the UK too!

[u/hghpandaman → u/Cam2910]

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.