Jeff Bezos Awards Dolly Parton $100 Million to “Do Good Things”

The post Jeff Bezos Awards Dolly Parton $100 Million to “Do Good Things” appeared first on Consequence.

That’ll buy a lot of books: Jeff Bezos and his partner Lauren Sánchez have given Dolly Parton the Courage and Civility Award, a $100 million prize that enables the beloved philanthropist to “do good things.”

“We have in this very room, the recipient of the next Courage and Civility Award,” Bezos said in a social media video of the event. “The woman you’re about to meet embodies these ideals so thoroughly. She gives with her heart. What she’s done for kids, for illiteracy and so many other things — is just incredible. It is my great honor to welcome the 2022 Courage and Civility recipient up on stage: Dolly Parton.”

Parton joined him at the podium and quipped, “Did you say 100 million dollars?”

“When people are in a position to help, you should help,” Parton told the cheering onlookers. “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.”

She closed with a pledge: “I’m going to do my best to do good things with this money. Thank you, Jeff.”

Journalist Van Jones and chef Jose Andres are the previous recipients of the Courage and Civility Award. Parton has been a consistent force for social good, most famously with her Imagination Library, which has donated 150 million books to children. She also recently gave $1 million to pediatric infectious disease research, and before that donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which successfully helped create Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.

However, she consistently refuses accolades that don’t help anyone but herself, twice turning down the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and she also asked the Tennessee State Legislature to pull legislation that would have erected a Dolly Parton statue. On November 5th, in defiance of her initial protests, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Jeff Bezos Awards Dolly Parton $100 Million to “Do Good Things”
Wren Graves

Popular Posts

• Lorde: "Touring Has Become a Demented Struggle to Break Even or Face Debt"

• Rick Ross Denies Being Hoarder While Showing Off Mansion Filled with Clothes and Shoes

• Joe Walsh on Honoring Taylor Hawkins, Reuniting James Gang, and Learning From Pete Townshend

• Hozier on His New Song for God of War: Ragnarök, "Blood Upon the Snow": Exclusive

• Peter Gabriel Announces First Solo Tour in Nine Years

• Gallagher, Watermelon-Smashing Prop Comedian, Dead at 76

Subscribe to Consequence’s email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox.