As regions hit hard by Hurricane Helene continue to deal with the aftermath, a big name from Appalachia has stepped up to help. On Friday, country star Dolly Parton announced she'll be donating $1 million out of her own pocket toward relief efforts, via the nonprofit Mountain Ways, reports CBS News. Two of Parton's businesses, the Dollywood Foundation and Dollywood Parks & Resorts, are matching the 78-year-old's gift with their own $1 million donation.
"Who would've known that ... this little part of the country where I was born and raised would have this kind of devastation," the Tennessee native said during a Friday appearance in the city of Newport, per WVLT. "I am totally with you because I am part of you." She added, per WJHL: "I look around [and] think, these are my mountains, these are my valleys, these are my rivers flowing like a stream. These are my people ... and this is my home."
Dollywood has already been functioning as a drop-off site for cleanup materials; donated thousands of protective garments and masks; and teamed up with Coca-Cola to get a semi-truck filled with water to the people of Cocke County. At Friday's presser, Walmart US CEO John Furner appeared with Parton to announce his company would be donating $10 million to help across multiple states. "I hope we can all be a little bit of light in the world for our friends, our neighbors—even strangers—during this dark time they are experiencing," Parton said, per CBS. (More Dolly Parton stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
