Dolly Parton awarded $100m by Jeff Bezos for charitable causes
Dolly Parton, a world-renowned country music star and philanthropist, has been awarded $100m (£84.8m) by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for charitable causes.
She will be able to give the money to whichever charities she chooses. “I think people who are in a position to help should put their money where their heart is,” Parton said in a video message. “I will do my best to do good things with this money.” The award was announced by Bezos alongside his partner, Lauren Sanchez, who praised the 9 to 5 singer for being “a woman who gives with her heart and leads with love and compassion in every aspect of her work”. “We can’t wait to see all the good that you’re going to do with this $100 million award,” she added.
Since its inception in 2021, the award has seen prizes given to the likes of activist Van Jones and chef and humanitarian Jose Andres.
Parton has consistently used her platform to advocate for a range of causes and charities. In 2020, she donated $1m of her own money for COVID-19 vaccine research at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville (one of the trial sites for the highly successful Moderna vaccine).
