Dolly Parton has announced plans to donate $1,000 per month to every family who lost their home in the wildfires sweeping through the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. The country music icon is helping the homeless families in need with the monthly donation for six months, until they get back on their feet.
Parton will make the donations through her Dollywood Foundation, reports the Knoxville News Sentinel, noting that the foundation plans to make more information available on Friday. According to the newspaper, more than 150 homes and businesses in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, have been destroyed.
READ MORE: Dolly Parton’s Dollywood to reopen Friday following Tennessee wildfires
“As you may know by now, there have been terrible wildfires in the Great Smoky Mountains, the same mountains where I grew up and where my people call home,” Parton wrote in a statement. “I have always believed that charity begins at home. That’s why I’ve asked my Dollywood companies… to help me establish the ‘My People Fund.’”
She adds: “We want to provide a hand up to those families who have lost everything in the fires. I know it has been a trying time for my people and this assistance will help get them back on their feet.”
READ MORE: Netflix Canada: What’s good in December?
The Dollywood Foundation is currently accepting donations to contribute to the fund, and anyone wishing to make a donation can do so at the Dollywood Foundation website.
WATCH: The latest on Dolly Parton
The Dollywood Company also donates to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, encouraging children to learn to enjoy “the magic of reading.” Parton also supports The Dr. Robert F. Thomas Foundation providing expanded health care services in the Sevier County of Tennessee and Alzheimer’s Tennessee.
Meanwhile, Parton is thankful her Tennessee-based Dollywood theme park has not been touched by the destructive wildfires.
Comments