Country music legend Dolly Parton has supported her neighbors in the wake of Hurricane Helene and announced a major donation to relief efforts.
“Island in the Stream” singer announced on friday He has donated a massive $1 million to help those affected by Helene – as people across the region struggle to recover from the storm, which has killed more than 200 people.
parton held a press conference At a Walmart in Newport, Tennessee, in the shadow of the area where the singer was born and raised.
Despite the severe conditions, Volunteer State residents were thrilled to see “Auntie Granny” and the famous singer did not disappoint the crowd. His artiste instincts took over and he delighted those who came to see him with a Storm-centric version of one of his classic hits.
Parton sang to the tune of her 1973 song, “Helen, Helen, Helen, Helen/You came here and broke us all/Helen, Helen, Helen, Helen/But we’re all here to mend these broken hearts.” Are.” “Jolene”
“I really wish we’d all been together for some other reason,” Dolly said without singing, “who knew, in our little part of the country where I was born and raised just down the road that We will have this kind of devastation. And I look around and think these are my mountains, these are my rivers, flowing like a stream,” in the end Adding, “This is my home.”
Parton said it’s time for everyone to “step up” — and she was setting the example by donating $1 million from her bank account. But she was not stopping here.
The country mogul said that through his Dollywood Foundation and a few other organizations, he donated an additional $1 million to The Mountain Ways Foundation.
At the same press conference, Walmart CEO John Furner announced that Walmart, Sam’s Club and the Walmart Foundation were increasing their donation to $10 million, up from the previously announced $6 million.
it’s been a week since the stormMore than a hundred people are still missing and feared dead. By Friday the death toll exceeded 200, making Helen the deadliest hurricane in the US since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Experts say Helene and other storms have dumped more than 40 trillion gallons of water on the region in the past week.
“This is an astronomical amount of precipitation,” said Ed Clark, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Water Center. told pbs“I’ve never seen anything in my 25 years working in the weather service that was so geographically large and the amount of water falling from the sky was so great.”
Victims of the storm are struggling to access food, water, electricity and cell phone service.
earlier today, Elon Musk expresses his frustration with FEMABecause his company SpaceX attempts to deliver relief supplies, including “Starlinks,” which are local satellite connections the size of an iPad. This public call comes in the wake of several reports FEMA has been wanting its storm response,
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