>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zSB0Qzx3Og
KPIX (SFO)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Discusses Crisis in Afghanistan, COVID and More
>1,610 views | Aug 17, 2021
She's toast.
>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Discusses Crisis in Afghanistan, COVID and More
>You do realize who's "Godmother" she is, right? Dolly ain't who you think she be.
>Dolly Parton helped fund Moderna
Parton is the godmother of singer-songwriter and actress Miley Cyrus.[114]
>Dolly Parton
Philanthropy
Since the mid-1980s, Parton has supported many charitable efforts, particularly in the area of literacy, primarily through her Dollywood Foundation. Her literacy program, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library,[125] a part of the Dollywood Foundation, mails one book per month to each enrolled child from the time of their birth until they enter kindergarten. Currently, over 1600 local communities provide the Imagination Library to almost 850,000 children each month across the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland.[125] In 2018, Parton was honored by the Library of Congress on account of the "charity sending out its 100 millionth book".[126] In 2006, Parton published a cookbook, Dolly's Dixie Fixin's: Love, Laughter and Lots of Good Food.[127][128]
The Dollywood Foundation, funded from Parton's profits, has been noted for bringing jobs and tax revenues to a previously depressed region. Parton also has worked to raise money for several other causes, including the American Red Cross and HIV/AIDS-related charities.[129]
In December 2006, Parton pledged $500,000 toward a proposed $90 million hospital and cancer center to be constructed in Sevierville in the name of Robert F. Thomas, the physician who delivered her. She announced a benefit concert to raise additional funds for the project. The concert played to about 8,000 people.[130] That same year, Emmylou Harris and she had allowed their music to be used in a PETA ad campaign that encouraged pet owners to keep their dogs indoors rather than chained outside.[131]
With Tennessee Senator Bob Corker at the rededication ceremony for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in September 2009
In 2003, her efforts to preserve the bald eagle through the American Eagle Foundation's sanctuary at Dollywood earned her the Partnership Award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.[132] Parton received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution at a ceremony in Nashville on November 8, 2007.[133] In February 2018, she donated her 100 millionth free book, a copy of Parton's children's picture book Coat of Many Colors. It was donated to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.[134]
For her work in literacy, Parton has received various awards, including Association of American Publishers Honors Award (2000), Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval (2001) (the first time the seal had been awarded to a person), American Association of School Administrators – Galaxy Award (2002), National State Teachers of the Year – Chasing Rainbows Award (2002), and Parents as Teachers National Center – Child and Family Advocacy Award (2003).
On May 8, 2009, Parton gave the commencement speech at the graduation ceremony for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's College of Arts and Sciences.[135] During the ceremony, she received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the university. It was only the second honorary degree given by the university, and in presenting the degree, the university's Chancellor, Jimmy Cheek, said, "Because of her career not just as a musician and entertainer, but for her role as a cultural ambassador, philanthropist and lifelong advocate for education, it is fitting that she be honored with an honorary degree from the flagship educational institution of her home state."[136]
In response to the 2016 Great Smoky Mountains wildfires, Parton was one of a number of country music artists who participated in a telethon to raise money for victims of the fires.[137] This was held in Nashville on December 9. In addition, Parton hosted her own telethon for the victims on December 13[138] and reportedly raised around $9 million.[139]
Parton has been a generous donor to VUMC (Vanderbilt University School of Medicine). Among her gifts was a contribution to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt Pediatric Cancer Program in honor of a friend, Professor Naji Abumrad, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and her niece, Hannah Dennison, who was successfully treated for leukemia as a child at Children's Hospital.[140]