The world lost a force for good this week when Dolly Parton died.
Dolly contained multitudes and defied the odds to become a force for good in the world. It is difficult to imagine that a child born in a one room cabin that housed 12 children in Appalachia would ascend to the world stage. Her persona was wrapped in rhinestones and glitter but here giving reflected a humble desire to help kids who needed a boost. Her life was impactful on many levels.
Her talent for music and story telling led to success as a performer, writer, business woman and philanthropist. Dolly used everything she built to uplift kids, families and even whole towns.
Some notable philanthropic achievements:
• She launched a program to cover 100% of the cost for all 11,000 Dollywood employees to go to college.
• She started “The Imagination Library” 31 years ago. She worked initially to honor her Dad who could not read or write. A staggering 300,000,000+ books have been gifted since its inception.
3,000,000+ books are gifted to registered children each month.
The program is available in 5 countries.
Dolly was proud to be known as “The Book Lady”.
• School drop out rates in her hometown dropped from 35% to 6% after she started a program to pay kids to stay in school.
Dolly’s example of generosity and the commitment to children’s educational futures makes one think what colossal impact one dedicated wealthy person can make. Like James Barksdale, a tech billionaire, who shared his resources to impact Mississippi literacy, Dolly’s gifts touch the future.
“It’s hard to imagine many people having a bigger impact than Dolly Parton. She was born in a one room cabin, she earned 11 Grammys and an Emmy, built a business empire, helped millions of kids learn to read, and if that wasn’t enough -helped accelerate the research that led to the Moderna COVID vaccine.” Barack Obama