Dolly Parton announces $1 million donation for Hurricane Helene relief efforts

Music icon Dolly Parton has announced she will be making a personal donation of $1 million (£762,000) to Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.

Speaking at an event in her home state of Tennessee on Friday, the 78-year-old said the money would come “from my own bank account.”

Parton’s local commercial ventures, including the Dollywood theme park, will also donate the same amount to the Mountain Ways Foundation, which helps those affected by flooding in the region.

During her remarks, Parton began singing “Helene, Helene” to the tune of her 1973 hit Jolene.

At least 225 people died in the Helene attack that struck the southeastern United States in late September.

Helene is the deadliest storm on the continent since Katrina in 2005.

Making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, Helene damaged structures, caused flash flooding and knocked out power to millions of homes. Since Saturday, over half a million properties have been without electricity.

The U.S. government has said cleanup could take years.

While a large portion of the deaths occurred in North Carolina, others were reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

“This is my home,” Parton said at a Friday press conference held outside a Walmart store in Newport, Tennessee.

“God has been good to me, as has society, and I feel that if I can give back in any way, I am always willing to do so. I want to feel like I’m doing my part. Hi.”

Explaining that many of her relatives live in the area, the singer said: “I was devastated like everyone else, I was just amazed and devastated by it.”

She added: “All these people feel like my people.”

According to the latest official data, eleven people have been confirmed dead in Tennessee, with the number of others still unknown.

At least two factory workers were swept away by flooding in Erwin in the northeastern part of the state.

When asked what her message was to victims, Parton replied: “I know it’s easy for us to say, ‘Oh, things will get better,’ when things are still really bad.”

“The only thing we can say is that we are with you, that we love you and that we hope that the situation will improve soon – and we will do everything in our power to make that possible.”

Coinciding with the press conference, Walmart announced it was increasing its recovery funding to $10 million (£7.6 million).

The supermarket chain’s chief executive, John Furner, said: ‘It’s not just where we have stores. These are the communities in which we work and live.”

He also described Parton as “a true American legend – and not just because of her music, her art, her business, but because of her heart.”

The country music singer-songwriter has previously made large donations in response to life-changing events.

In 2016, her charity pledged to donate $1,000 a month to families affected by the Tennessee wildfires.

In 2020, it donated $1 million to develop one of the vaccines for Covid-19.