Dolly Parton could have been a billionaire 3 times over but actively chose to give her money away to cause after cause for charity. She was an incredible musician and artist but more importantly lived with compassion and kindness and with the drive to help those around her in every way she could. God I’m sad. The world lost one one of the greats today :(
In 1990, the high school dropout rate for Dolly Parton's hometown of Sevierville Tennessee was at 34% (Research shows that most kids make up their minds in fifth/sixth grade not to graduate). That year, all fifth and sixth graders from Sevierville were invited by Parton to attend an assembly at Dollywood. They were asked to pick a buddy, and if both students completed high school, Dolly Parton would personally hand them each a $500 check on their graduation day. As a result, the dropout rate for those classes fell to 6%, and has generally retained that average to this day.
Shortly after the success of The Buddy Program, Parton learned in dealing with teachers from the school district that problems in education often begin during first grade when kids are at different developmental levels. That year The Dollywood Foundation paid the salaries for additional teachers assistants in every first grade class for the next 2 years, under the agreement that if the program worked, the school system would effectively adopt and fund the program after the trial period.
During the same period, Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995: The idea being that children from her rural hometown and low-income families often start school at a disadvantage and as a result, will be unfairly compared to their peers for the rest of their lives, effectively encouraging them not to pursue higher education. The objective of the Imagination library was that every child in Sevier County would receive one book, every month, mailed and addressed to the child, from the day they were born until the day they started kindergarten, 100% free of charge. What began as a hometown initiative now serves children in all 50 states, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, mailing thousands of free books to children around the world monthly.
On March 1, 2018 Parton donated her 100 millionth book at the Library of Congress: a copy of "Coat of Many Colors" dedicated to her father, who never learned to read or write.
dolly parton did so much good in this world. just because she cared. caring means so much. loving people and wanting to make the world a little better while you’re here matters so much.
🦋Wishing a very happy 80th birthday to beloved music legend, song-writer,actress, author, literacy advocate, lgbtq+ ally and international treasure Dolly Parton, born on January 19th, 1946 in a tiny one-room log cabin built on the banks of the Little Pigeon River in Pittman Center, Tennessee.Dolly's Imagination Library, founded in 1995, has given over 300,000,000 free books to children in America, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, with Dolly stating: "When I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true. I know there are children in your community with their own dreams. The seeds of these dreams are often found in books, and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world."🦋
Gifs of Dolly from the premiere episode of the Dolly variety series, originally broadcast by ABC on September 27th, 1987, and also from various red carpet appearances Dolly's made in recent years.
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