NEWS
DOLLY PARTON RECEIVES $100 MILLION COURAGE AWARD

PNG Haus Bung By PNG Haus Bung | November 15, 2022

DOLLY PARTON RECEIVES $100 MILLION COURAGE AWARD

ā€œJeff [Bezos] and I are so proud to share that we have a new Bezos Courage and Civility Award winner — a woman who gives with her heart and leads with love and compassion in every aspect of her work,ā€ Bezos’ longtime partner, Lauren Sanchez, posted onĀ InstagramĀ alongside a video of their speech Friday before awarding the grant to the country music legend and longtime philanthropist.

ā€œWe can’t wait to see all the good that you’re going to do with this $100 million award, @DollyParton.ā€

Parton, who has donated to various causes for decades, publicly thanked Bezos and Sanchez on Twitter.

ā€œI try to put my money where my heart is. I will do my best to do good things with this money,ā€ Parton tweeted. ā€œThank you @JeffBezos #LaurenSanchezā€

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Parton donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s vaccine research efforts. It was partly used to fund Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine.

She said in anĀ interview at the timeĀ with BBC’s ā€œThe One Show,ā€ that she felt ā€œhonored and proud.ā€

ā€œI just felt so proud to have been part of that little seed money that will hopefully grow into something great and help to heal this world,ā€ she said. ā€œI’m a very proud girl today to know I had anything at all to do with something that’s going to help us through this crazy pandemic.ā€

In 1988, Parton established the Dollywood Foundation, and eventually The Imagination Library, a program that helps children across the world access books.

Among her philanthropic efforts in her home state of Tennessee, Parton also created the Dolly Parton Scholarship, which provides $15,000 to recipients towards a college education.

Last year, Bezos awarded $100 million each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef José Andrés.

Bezos, the founder and former head of Amazon.com, said at a news conference at the time the grant had no strings attached.

ā€œThey can give it all to their own charity,ā€ Bezos said last year. ā€œOr they can share the wealth. It is up to them."