Dolly Parton was awarded the Courage and Civility Award by Jeff Bezos recently. The Amazon founder gave Parton a sum of $100 million which constitutes the award.
“When people are in a position to help, you should help. And I know that I’ve always said, I try to put my money where my heart is. And I think you do the same thing,” said Parton to Bezos as she received the award.
Other recipients in the past include Chef Jose Andres and Van Jones.
Andres used the money to help feed Ukrainians during the war with Russia while Jones did not specify what the money would be used for. Parton has also not specified how she intends to donate the sum.
The money does not come with any strict clauses for how it should be distributed as long as it is towards charity in general.
Parton,76, tweeted that she would do her best to do good things with the money.
The singer is well known for her philanthropy. The Dollywood Foundation has been focusing on increasing the graduation rate in her home state and was launched in 1988.
The Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is another such endeavor, it features a book gifting programme that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, irrespective of family income. This programme was launched in 1995.
Parton also donated one million to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center to help her friend Dr Naji Abumrad to develop the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine.
Dolly Parton received the vaccine from him directly and made a video of the event while encouraging others to get vaccinated.
Other charity programmes by her include Smoky Mountains Rise: A Benefit for the My People Fund which was a live telethon to raise money for people whose homes were destroyed by wildfires in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Bezos tweeted the announcement on November 12 praising the star for her generosity.
“We’ve just announced a new Courage and Civility award recipient – @DollyParton, who leads with her heart, and will put this $100 million award to great use helping so many people. What she’s done for kids, literacy and so many other things is just incredible,” he said.
Dolly Parton was also awarded the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy last month.
“I always want to do things that I can be proud to talk about, things that I believe in. I cannot be a hypocrite and just say I’m going to donate this money for a tax write-off. I’d really like for it to mean something to me – something I can take pride in,” she said.
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