Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez offer Dolly Parton $100 million
Music icon Dolly Parton received $100 million from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez.
Parton is the latest recipient of the Bezos Courage and Civility Award.
“Jeff [Bezos] and I am so proud to share that we have a new winner of the Bezos Courage and Civility Award – a woman who gives with her heart and leads with love and compassion in all aspects of her work,” said the longtime partner of Bezos, Lauren Sanchez, on Instagram along with a video of their speech before awarding the grant to the country music legend and longtime philanthropist.
“We can’t wait to see all the good you’ll do with this $100 million prize, @DollyParton.”
Parton, who has donated to various causes for decades, publicly thanked Bezos and Sanchez on Twitter.
“I try to put my money where my heart is. I will do my best to do good things with this money,” Parton tweeted. “Thank you @JeffBezos #LaurenSanchez”
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Parton donated $1 million to vaccine research efforts at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which was partly used to fund Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine.
She said in an interview at the time with BBC’s ‘The One Show’ that she felt “honoured and proud”.
“I felt so proud to have been part of this little seed money that will hopefully grow into something big and help heal this world,” she said. “I am a very proud girl today to know that I had anything to do with something that is going to get us through this crazy pandemic.”
In 1988 Parton established the Dollywood Foundation, and eventually The Imagination Library, a program that helps children around the world access books.
Among her philanthropic efforts in her home state of Tennessee, Parton also established the Dolly Parton Scholarship, which provides $15,000 to recipients for a college education.
Last year, Bezos awarded $100 million each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef José Andrés.
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Dolly Parton is the latest recipient of the Bezos Courage and Civility Award. https://t.co/inuniRn0VE pic.twitter.com/mTlqv41fgD
— CNN (@CNN) November 14, 2022
