Dolly Parton is extending a hand to the victims of Hurricane Helene, to the tune of millions of dollars. The superstar, who made an appearance at a Walmart in Newport, Tennessee on Friday, October 4, personally pledged a million dollars to the Mountain Ways Foundation, which is helping East Tennessee communities that have been impacted by flooding brought on by the devastating storm. Her donation, she noted, would be matched by her companies — including the Dollywood Foundation and Dollywood Parks and Resorts.
Parton, who is a native of East Tennessee, announced during a press conference Friday that she’d be making the donations in partnership with Walmart. “I look around, and think these are my mountains, these are my valleys. These are my rivers flowing like a stream .
.. These are my people and this is my home,” Parton, 78, stated.
“Remember when we had the fires, everybody pitched in, tried to do everything that they could,” she added, referring to the deadly wildfires that ravaged Sevier County, Tennessee, in 2016. “And so I really think that this is a time for me to step up again for all of us to step up and do what we can. Today, I wanted to announce that from myself personally, just from my own bank account, I’m donating a million dollars today, but there’s a lot to be done, and we’re trying to find other ways to even raise more funds.
” “I know it’s easy for us to say, ‘Oh, things are going to get better’ when things are still really bad,�.