Dolly Parton donates $1 million to Hurricane Helene relief efforts

Dolly Parton it just keeps getting better. The pop culture icon that has been welcomed in recent months Beyonce into the country music scene, forgiven and admittedly “hammered” Elle King For a blurry birthday celebration and, perhaps most delightfully, freeing herself from the burden of text messages, she announced Friday that she would donate $1 million to relief efforts after Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 hurricane that experts are calling one of the largest storm systems to ever reach the United States

The weather event that struck much of the South late last month has been linked to over 200 deaths, with more people still missing in the states of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee and Appalachia. As the extent of the damage became clearer, it was estimated that the southeastern region suffered an estimated $250 billion in losses.

That’s a number that exceeds the value of the richest man in the world Elon Muskwho reportedly earns $258 billion. As for Musk, it is worth noting that his gesture towards the disaster so far has been to spread misinformation and falsehoods through X (formerly Twitter), the social media platform that he has owned since the fall of 2022. Musk’s claims were refuted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the US Secretary of Transportation Pete ButtigiegThese include false claims that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has blocked relief and recovery flights through the disaster area and that FEMA is “actively blocking citizens trying to help.”

“No one is closing airspace and the FAA is not blocking legitimate rescue and recovery flights,” Buttigieg responded. And according to a statement from FEMA, “There are no airspace restrictions in North Carolina as rescue efforts continue due to Hurricane Helene…The FAA is working with local authorities to ensure rescue efforts are conducted safely.”

But while Musk is tweeting (and reportedly traveling to Butler, PA to join the Republican presidential candidate). Donald Trump for a rally at the site of the former president’s assassination attempt in June), Dolly Parton takes action. The singer and actress called a press conference at a Walmart in Newport, Tennessee, to announce her $1 million donation to the Mountain Ways Foundation, a post-hurricane nonprofit supported by local businesses and philanthropists was founded to support reconstruction in the Greater Appalachian region.

“These are special people here; they are my people,” the 78-year-old from Locust Ridge, Tennessee, said at the event.

“I feel like all people are my people, but everyone here grew up in the mountains just like me, so of course I have a close connection with them. I can’t stand to see anyone suffer, so I wanted to do something. I could help after these terrible floods.”

“Who would have thought that there would be such devastation in this small part of the country where I was born and raised,” she said. “I am completely with you because I am part of you.”

Parton’s donation will be matched by a number of her East Tennessee-based companies, including her philanthropic organization, the Dollywood Foundation, as well as the CEO of Walmart US John Furner announced that Walmart, Sam’s Club and the Walmart Foundation would donate an additional $10 million to support storm victims and recovery efforts.

Furner, whose family moved to Franklin, Tennessee, in 1979, said: “We will be here. Not until the media disappears, but until we recover. And that’s exactly what’s going to happen here, we’re going to recover.”

According to Parton, this fundraising pool is just the beginning. “I wanted to announce that I’m personally donating a million dollars today, just from my own bank account,” she said, “but there’s still a lot of work to be done and we’re trying to find other ways to make up for it.” Collect money.”

This isn’t the first time Parton has made headlines with a sizable donation during a time of crisis. The Black Lives Matter supporter donated $1 million to vaccine research at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and another $1 million to pediatric infectious disease research in 2022. But at Friday’s press conference, she shrugged off those donations, telling WVLT, “You’re never prepared, you just try to improve.” God has been good to me and so has the public, so I want to feel like I’m doing my part.