Victims of Hurricane Helene are getting a major boost from Dolly Parton.
The country music icon announced during a press conference on Friday, Oct. 4, that she decided to make a $1 million donation to the Mountain Ways Foundation. The nonprofit is supporting people impacted by the hurricane in the Appalachian region, including those in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina.
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Parton’s businesses in East Tennessee, including Dollywood Parks & Resorts, are matching her gift with an additional $1 million donation.
Parton, 78, announced her community contribution at a Walmart location in Newport, Tenn. Walmart, Sam’s Club and the Walmart Foundation on Friday announced an increase in the companies’ combined donations to hurricane relief efforts, which now total $10 million.
Speaking with a crowd of people gathered outside the Walmart store on Friday, Parton said she has in recent days been “trying to figure out all the best ways” to help those in need. “Who knew in our little part of the country here, where I was born and raised, just right down the road, that we would have this kind of devastation,” she said in comments that were filmed and later published online by the Nashville-based television news station WSMV-TV.
After reflecting on previous natural disasters that her community has faced, Parton said she believes “that this is a time for me to step up again, for all of us to step up, and do what we can.”
In a Friday post on Instagram, Dollywood Parks & Resorts urged those who are able to volunteer or make donations of their own to consider supporting the Mountain Ways Foundation.
Hurricane Helene first made landfall on Sept. 26 along Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm and went on to devastate parts of the southern Appalachian region. With more than 200 fatalities reported, the hurricane became the deadliest storm in the U.S. since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
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