Dolly Parton Announces She'll Give Tennessee Wildfire Victims $1,000 Per Month

GATLINBURG, TN — Dolly Parton, easily the most famous resident of Sevier County, Tennessee, announced late Wednesday that, through her foundation, every family who lost their home in the deadly wildfires in the Smoky Mountain hamlet of Gatlinburg would receive $1,000 per month for up to six months while they recover.

“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," the country music legend said in a video posted to her website and across social media.

"I have always believed that charity begins at home. That’s why I’ve asked my Dollywood Companies .. and my Dollywood Foundation to help me establish the 'My People Fund.' We want to provide a hand up to those families who have lost everything in the fires. To aid in their recovery effort, the Dollywood Foundation will provide $1,000 a month to all of those families who lost their homes in the fires for six months so that they can get back on their feet.”

Seven people have died and hundreds of homes have been destroyed in the fires that tore through Sevier County Monday and Tuesday. While parts of Pigeon Forge, the home of Dollywood, were evacuated, no damage was reported there and the evacuation order was lifted late Tuesday.

Parton is well known for her charitable nature. In 1995, she began the Imagination Library, which provided one book per month for every child in Sevier County from birth until their fifth birthday. That program then spread to all 95 counties in Tennessee and is now in 1,600 communities in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, mailing more than 1 million books per month. She also leads a foundation that expanded access to quality health care in isolated mountain communities, with the area hospital's women's center and neo-natal unit named for her. She has been handing out scholarships to college-bound Sevier County High School graduates for years and, just two weeks ago, gave a $30,000 scholarship to an Arkansas toddler to celebrate the Imagination Library's milestone of mailing out 1 million books per month.

More information on the My People Fund will be available at the Dollywood Foundation website Friday.

Image via Flickr user Linda Stanley, used under Creative Commons