Dolly Parton’s charitable deeds are legendary. She’s made millions of lives better through endeavors like the Imagination Library, which provides free books every month to children from birth up until age five, and Grow U, an education program that pays for Dollywood employees’ tuition and associated costs with no strings attached. She also gave one million dollars to Moderna for covid vaccination research in 2020. These are only a handful of the many incredible ways that Dolly has used her wealth for good.

Dolly recently made a huge donation to the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, which is a non-profit facility located in Knoxville. The actual amount hasn’t been revealed, but executives say it was “generational and transformational.” Dolly donated so much money that they’re honoring her generosity by renaming the hospital after her. It is now officially known as the Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital.

Dolly Parton is being praised for her generous contributions to East Tennessee Children’s hospital, which is now named after her.

Following news that the health center would be renamed in honor of the country legend as Dolly Parton’s Children’s Hospital, its president and chief executive officer Matt Schaefer opened up about the “surreal moment” of receiving the “Jolene” hitmaker’s donation.

In the interview with Chief Healthcare Executive on Monday, March 30, Schaefer praised Parton’s “incredibly disarming personality.”

“It was truly humbling, and to hear her, in her own words, talk about the importance of this to her, to her community, to this organization, and to children, was super affirming,” he said of meeting Parton, 80.

Schaefer spoke about how, with the “9 to 5″ artist’s donation, he hoped to expand the hospital’s roster of doctors, invest in new programs and technology and increase fundraising.

“I think anytime you have someone of her stature, someone of her standing, certainly in this region, across the United States, across the world, honestly, and to have the halo effect of everything she stood for in her life, including her love for children in particular, it just is fantastic for the future of our mission,” he said of Parton.

While Schaefer played coy when it came to revealing the amount Parton donated, he said the sum was “generational and transformational.”

“What I can tell you is that she has made a generational and transformational commitment to Children’s and its mission, and that commitment is something that goes beyond our wildest expectations, that is beyond generous, and will be a lifeline for this mission for now and for years to come,” he said.

Schaefer added, “And we’re excited about and humbled by her willingness to do so.”

He noted that having the hospital renamed after her will “allow them to tell a broader story about the depth and breadth of services here, to imagine how we can continue to expand those services, and it accelerates how we should think about what our responsibility is to the patients and families that trust us today and invariably will trust us tomorrow.”

The partnership with Parton will “amplify and accelerate some of those initiatives in a way that we could not have done otherwise without that type of support and backing and awareness across the region, for providers, for clinicians, for patients, for families and for referring providers,” added Schaefer.

[From People]

I love that they renamed the hospital for her! For further context, Dolly grew up about an hour from Knoxville, so she knows the area and its needs. I can’t help but think about all of the rural hospitals that lost their funding and are being forced to close down so that Republicans can pay for tax cuts to the rich. Last year, there were reports that the children’s hospital stood to lose tens of millions of dollars in Medicaid funding, so Dolly’s generosity must have been appreciated all the more. Just like with what she did with Dollywood employees’ tuition, I love her commitment to giving back to local members of her community. She belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of good celebrities.

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