More than music: A look at Dolly Parton’s philanthropy efforts over the years

Sr Digital Curator

Beyond her influence as the “Queen of Country,” Dolly Parton was equally known for her generosity.

File video above: Dolly Parton awarded medal for philanthropy

In 1986, she bought a theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and renamed it Dollywood. The park attracts Dolly acolytes from around the world and is also a major source of revenue for the region. The amusement park is Sevier County’s largest employer, according to a 2021 economic impact study, credited with creating more than 23,000 jobs and generating around $1.8 billion annually.

Two years after the opening of Dollywood, Parton launched the Dollywood Foundation, which initially sought to lower the high school dropout rate in her home county in Tennessee. She later expanded it to include the Buddy Program, in which Parton personally pledged to give $500 to every seventh-grade and eighth-grade student if they graduated from high school.

Shortly after the Buddy Program was introduced, Parton launched her education nonprofit, Imagination Library, which has gifted more than 300 million books to children around the world.

The organization was inspired by her father, who quit school to work on the farm and later struggled to learn to read.

“He was the smartest man I have ever known, but I know in my heart his inability to read probably kept him from fulfilling all of his dreams,” she said.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library grew beyond Tennessee to cover the entire United States. In 2006, it spread to Canada, followed by the United Kingdom in 2007, Australia in 2013, and the Republic of Ireland in 2019.

In 2016, when a deadly wildfire swept through the Smoky Mountains, she held an all-star telethon and set up a foundation that sent monthly checks to residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed.

Throughout her life, Parton published several bestselling books, including memoirs “Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business,” “Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones,” and “Star of the Show: My Life on Stage,” as well as the novel “Run Rose Run” co-written with James Patterson. She also wrote several children’s books, including “I Am a Rainbow,” “Coat of Many Colors” and the “Billy the Kid” series.

In 1999, Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and received the Recording Academy’s lifetime achievement award in 2011. As for the Rock ‘n Rock Hall of Fame, she initially balked at the prospect of being inducted, saying she didn’t feel she was a legitimate rock star. She took it as an invitation (at the behest of her husband) to attempt a rock album, naturally called “Rockstar,” which saw the country legend dueting with rock luminaries like Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney and covering classic rock songs like “Stairway to Heaven” and “Let It Be.”

In addition to multiple scholarship donations and programs, Parton also mobilized over the years after natural disasters affected both her home state and surrounding areas.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, she personally stepped in to help fund the development of the Moderna vaccine and donated $1 million to coronavirus research at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

“I felt so proud to have been part of that little seed money that hopefully will grow into something great and help to heal this world,” Parton said.

The Associated Press and CNN contributed to this report.