httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9re90HG2dw
Photo Dolly Parton, one of country music’s most enduring entertainers, said she will donate $1,000 a month to each family that has been left homeless by the wildfires that destroyed much of a town and left at least seven people dead in her home state, Tennessee, this week.
In a video statement published on her website, Ms. Parton said the newly established “My People Fund” would use online donations and money from her foundation and her extensive business interests to provide for these families for six months.
“And to recover, we want to make sure that the Dollywood Foundation provides $1,000 a month to all of those families that have lost their homes in the fires until they get back up on their feet.
Seven people were killed and up to 45 people were injured, the Tennessee Department of Health said, according to an emergency management statement on Thursday.
Pigeon Forge, home to Dolly Parton’s Dollywood theme park, is among the primary tourist destinations in the region.
Ms. Parton, who earlier this week described herself as “heartbroken” by the destruction, said in her video statement announcing the fund that the “terrible” wildfires in the Great Smoky Mountains have affected “the same mountains w I grew up and w my people call home.
As of Wednesday, the fires in Gatlinburg had been extinguished, but t were still smoldering patches, the statement said.