Dolly Parton to donate $1 million for Hurricane Helene relief efforts

NEWPORT, Tenn.- Dolly Parton announced that she has given $1 million of her own money to help the victims of Hurricane Helene.

Helene came ashore in Florida on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane and carved a path of destruction as it moved northward, killing more than 220 people in six states, including in eastern Tennessee where Parton is from.

Parton announced her donation in Newport, Tennessee in a Wal-Mart parking lot. When the singer greeted the crowd, she briefly sang about the devastation of Helene, to the tune of her popular song ‘Jolene.” Parton also pledged an additional $1 million from her various businesses including Dollywood Parks and Resorts and the Dollywood Foundation.

The $2 million will go to the Mountain Ways Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to providing immediate assistance to Hurricane Helene flood victims.

“I know it’s easy for us to say, things are going to get better when things are still really bad. All we can say is that we are with you. We love you. We hope that things get better real soon and we’re going to do our part to try to make that possible,” Parton said.

Walmart also pledged $10 million toward the states affected by Helene.

Philanthropy is not new to the country singer, in 2021, she gave money to flood victims in Middle Tennessee, and in 2016, she launched the ‘My People Fund’ which aided families impacted by wildfires in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Parton also has spent three decades working to improve literacy among children through her Imagination Library book giveaway program. The program has now expanded statewide in places like Missouri and Kentucky, two of 21 states where all children under the age of 5 can enroll to have books mailed to their homes monthly.