Dolly Parton: The Legendary Musician with a Gentle Heart, Part 2 of 2

With the profits from her successful creative pursuits and businesses, Dolly makes giving back a big part of her life. “If God’s been good to you, you should be good to other people. That’s how we spread the love around. It makes me feel good to do it, and I think it’s my duty to do it.” Dolly often expresses her gratitude to her parents, as her mother and her mother’s side of the family nourished her musical talent, and her father implanted a keen sense of how to manage a business.

In 1995, the Dollywood Foundation expanded to include Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a wonderful project intended to inspire children to love reading and learning. On February 27, 2018, Dolly donated the 100 millionth Imagination Library book to the Library of Congress. In addition to her heartfelt efforts in education, she supports the American Red Cross and various health care causes, such as HIV/AIDS-related charities.

Furthermore, Dolly’s love extends to animal people’s welfare, along with other causes such as youth homelessness, childhood diabetes, and military veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and physical injuries, to name a few. She is a long-term supporter of the LGBT community and of same-sex marriage. Dollywood hosts her “Gay Day” event out of respect for them. In recognition of her artistic achievements and philanthropic work, Dolly was named the MusiCares Person of the Year in 2019, the first country artist ever to receive the honor.

Behind the successful management of her frenetic career, extremely prolific creative life, and colossal achievements professionally and philanthropically, is Dolly’s extraordinary self-discipline and spiritual faith. She rises at 3 o’clock in the morning and starts the day with meditation and prayer. On January 19, 2021, Dolly celebrated her 75th birthday by publishing an open letter to share her birthday wishes and making a “heartfelt call for kindness.” “We can’t just hope for a brighter day, we have to work for a brighter day,” she said in her message. Dolly encourages people to do something kind in their efforts to make the world a better place by “unearthing love.”