The 'Jolene' has been awarded this year's Bezos Courage and Civility Award and $100 million by the Amazon mogul as she is recognized for her charity works.
- November 14, 2022
AceShowbiz - Jeff Bezos has offered Dolly Parton $100 million to donate to charity. The Amazon boss picked the "Jolene" singer as the recipient of this year's Bezos Courage and Civility Award, which recognises leaders who "pursue solutions with courage and civility."
Footage of Dolly being given the award was shared by Jeff's girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez. "Jeff 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," the news anchor captioned her Instagram post. "We can't wait to see all the good that you're going to do with this $100 million award, @DollyParton [heart emoji]."
In the clip, the 76-year-old singer promised to "do good things with this money." She said, "Wow! Did you say $100 million? When people are in a position to help, you should help. And I know that I've always said, I try to put my money where my heart is. And I think you do the same thing. I will do my best to do good things with this money."
Over the years, Dolly has founded a number of charities, including the Dollywood Foundation and famously donated $1 million to Vanderblit University's Medical Center to help develop a vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The "9 to 5" hitmaker also founded the Imagination Library, a scheme that sends kids one book a month from birth until they begin school, and recently explained she was inspired to do so after seeing her father feel "crippled" about not being able to read or write.
She said, "My dad, even though he could not read nor write, he was one of the smartest people I have ever known. He had twelve kids so he had to figure out how to feed them. He knew how to get out and make a buck."
"He felt crippled by the fact that he couldn't read and write. It used to break my heart that he felt ashamed that he couldn't read or write. I told Daddy, 'You'd be shocked to know how many millions of people in this world can't read or write.' I tried to make him feel as good about that as I could."
Jeff, 58, launched his award in 2001, with activist Van Jones the first winner.
