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Country music icon Dolly Parton, who died Tuesday in Nashville, spent decades turning her success into support for children, medical research and communities recovering from disasters.
One of Parton’s best-known philanthropic efforts, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, has distributed more than 332 million free books since its founding, according to the organization’s website.
The program mails free books each month to children from birth to age 5. It launched in Sevier County, Tennessee – where Parton was raised – in 1995, expanded nationally in 2000 and later reached several other countries.
“The seeds of these dreams are often found in books and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world,” Parton said, according to the organization’s website.
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The Imagination Library is the signature program of the Dollywood Foundation, which Parton established in 1988 to improve educational outcomes in Sevier County.
The foundation initially focused on reducing the local high school dropout rate before expanding its mission to promote childhood literacy.
Parton’s giving extended well beyond education.
After wildfires destroyed the homes of more than 1,000 Sevier County families in 2016, Parton asked the foundation to create the My People Fund.
The fund provided affected families with $1,000 per month for six months. By May 2017, it had raised and distributed more than $12 million. Additional money funded one-time scholarships for high school seniors who lost their homes, according to the Imagination Library.
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Parton also contributed millions of dollars to medical research.
In 2020, she donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville to support COVID-19 research, according to BBC News.
In 2022, she contributed another $1 million for pediatric infectious disease research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, according to the Vanderbilt Health website. That same year, Parton received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in 2024, Parton donated $1 million to the Mountain Ways Foundation to help flood victims. Several of her East Tennessee businesses and the Dollywood Foundation pledged to match her gift with another $1 million, according to an announcement at the time from the Mountain Ways Foundation.
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“We believe that her many philanthropic achievements embody the values of our founder, who, with us, would surely greet Parton with ‘affection, gratitude, and admiration,’” the nonprofit stated at the time.
Parton died in Nashville, Tennessee on Tuesday, according to a press release obtained by Fox News Digital.
Her nephew revealed the news in an Aug. 25 Instagram video. The news comes after Parton spent months battling an unknown health issue.
Fox News Digital’s Christina Dugan Ramirez contributed to this report.
