Dolly Parton donated $1 million of her personal cash to Hurricane Helene aid efforts, the nation music star introduced Friday.
Parton's Dollywood additionally added an extra $1 million to the aid fund, donating to The Mountain Ways Foundation. Walmart CEO John Furner joined the musician to clarify how the corporate has arrange sources throughout the affected states, offering showers and different provides to Americans displaced by Hurricane Helene. In addition, Furner introduced that Walmart, Sam’s Club and the Walmart Foundation are rising their aid efforts' dedication to $10 million, up from $6 million.
“I'm happy to be here,” Parton stated on the press convention. “And I'm sure a lot of you are wondering where I've been. Everybody's saying, ‘Where's Dolly? Well, I've been like everybody else, trying to absorb everything going on, trying to figure out all the best ways to do this,” she continued earlier than singing about Hurricane Helene to the tune of her hit music, “Jolene.”
Hurricane Helene dumped trillions of gallons of water a whole lot of miles inland, devastating communities nestled in mountains removed from the specter of storm surge or sea stage rise.
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The Rocky Broad River flows into Lake Lure and overflows the city with particles from Chimney Rock, North Carolina, after heavy rains from Hurricane Helene. (Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)
Parton, who grew up in japanese Tennessee, famous that she wished to give again to the neighborhood the place she was raised.
“We're all here to mend these broken hearts, and that's what I'm doing here,” she informed reporters and North Carolina residents. “So, I really, really wish that we were all together for another reason.”
“But we all have seen the devastation,” Parton added. “I mean, who knew in our little part of the country here where I was born, raised just right down the road, that we would have this kind of devastation? And I look around, and I think these are my mountains, these are my valleys. These are my rivers flowing like a stream. These are my people, these mountain-colored rainbows. These are my people. And this is my home.”
“All we can say is that we are with you. We love you. We hope that things get better real soon, and we're going to do our part to try to make that possible.”
The “9 to 5” singer left Americans with a message of hope on the finish of the press convention.
“I know it's easy for us to say, ‘Oh, things are going to get better' when things are still really bad,” she famous. “All we can say is that we are with you. We love you. We hope that things get better real soon, and we're going to do our part to try to make that possible. We love you, and we appreciate you. And we thank you. And I think that with God's help and all the help of all these good people, we'll make it.”
MORGAN WALLEN DONATES TO HURRICANE HELENE RELIEF, SAYS FAMILY IS ‘SAFE' AMID DEVASTATING FLOODS
Due to the shortage of electrical energy and cell service, locals are unable to talk to discover out the place requirements are. Communication with family members and emergency personnel can be spotty, and residents are counting on short-term cell service towers which have been arrange in choose places. But outdoors these places, there's nonetheless no service or roaming knowledge.
Cars sit submerged in a flooded space at a used tire vendor after Tropical Storm Helene in Hendersonville, North Carolina, U.S., September 27, 2024. (Ken Ruinard/USA Today Network through Reuters)
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Chimney Rock was devastated by Hurricane Helene. Debris floats in Lake Lure. (James Broyhill)
At least 224 individuals have misplaced their lives throughout six states due to Hurricane Helene, FOX Weather has confirmed. The dying toll is anticipated to rise as search and rescue continues to comb by way of new areas.
Before Helene, federal forecasters informed residents in western North Carolina that flooding from the hurricane might be “one of the most significant weather events to happen” since 1916. That yr, a pair of hurricanes inside per week killed at the very least 80 individuals, and the neighborhood of Altapass obtained greater than 20 inches of rain (50.8 centimeters) in a 24-hour span.
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For her half, Parton has contributed to catastrophe aid efforts previously. In August, the musician teamed up with Felix Cavaliere to re-record the favored music “My Hawaii.”
All proceeds from the music are being donated to the Maui United Way – Maui Fire Disaster Relief Fund. The monetary help from the fund goes to survivors of the large hearth in Lahaina and Kula in 2023. The hearth devastated Maui, killing 102 individuals, after Hawaiian Electric tools was broken by excessive winds.
Fox News Digital's Audrey Conklin and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
