Dolly Parton has announced that she will donate more than $1 million to help those affected by Hurricane Helen.
“This is my home,” Parton said Friday at a Walmart in Newport, Tennessee, according to CNN. “Now it’s time for me to step up again, and it’s time for all of us to step up and do what we can.”
The singer-songwriter shared the news at an event to raise money for relief efforts for those affected by Hurricane Helen. Parton said she is trying to do her part to combat the significant destruction and displacement caused by the hurricane.
At the same event, Walmart U.S. President and CEO John Furner announced that the company, Sam’s Club, and the Walmart Foundation will donate $10 million to hurricane relief efforts across affected states. did.
A number of Parton’s companies, including Dollywood Parks & Resorts, Dollywood Foundation, Dolly Parton’s Stampede and Pirate Voyage, will partner with Walmart on flood relief in Appalachia.
Parton allocated $1 million to the Mountain Ways Foundation, a charity focused on providing immediate assistance to Hurricane Helen flood victims. In addition, Parton’s East Tennessee-based company is partnering with the Dollywood Foundation to match her Mountain Ways donation through an additional $1 million gift.
“Who would have thought something like this would happen in a small part of this country, where I was born and raised, so close to the road?” Parton said. “I look around and think, ‘This is my mountain, this is my valley, this is my river, this is my people, and this is my home.'”
The country music icon went on to say she feels a connection to the victims of Hurricane Helen, citing many of her relatives in the area.
“It was shocking, not just because it was my family, but because all these people felt like my people,” Parton said. “We all feel connected and we’re all connected in some way. So just knowing that we had to suffer like that was really shocking.”
Watch Parton’s full message in the video below.
