In Sevier County Tenn., the 1990 drop out rate for the public school was 35 percent. This created a lot of adults who could not read or write or hold any but the simplest jobs. One person stepped up to change the course of those children’s lives: Dolly Parton. Dolly grew up in this culture where rural poverty was the norm in Appalachia.

Her early songs described life growing up poor in mountain country but learning about values that are more important than money. Her 1971 song ‘Coat of Many Colors’ tells the story of her mother turning a box of rags into a winter coat for Dolly. Despite being mocked at school for wearing the homemade coat, the young Dolly realized her immense wealth in her mother’s love:

So with patches on my britches

And holes in both my shoes

In my coat of many colors

I hurried off to school

Just to find the others laughing

And making fun of me

In my coat of many colors

My momma made for me

And oh, I couldn’t understand it

For I felt I was rich

And I told ‘em of the love

My momma sewed in every stitch

And I told ‘em all the story

Momma told me while she sewed

And how my coat of many colors

Was worth more than all their clothes

But they didn’t understand it

And I tried to make them see

That one is only poor

Only if they choose to be

Now I know we had no money

But I was rich as I could be

In my coat of many colors

My momma made for me

Made just for me

Dolly said God was her co-pilot and she used her gifts to change the world for so many people. Often quietly with no cameras present, she made a difference.

Reporters tried to get her to opine on politics. She declined to take the bait. When a Knoxville newspaper reporter tried to draw a parallel between Donal Trump and the boss man in the movie 9 to 5, she replied “I learned a long time ago, keep your damn mouth shut if you want to stay in show business. … I’m not in politics, I’m an entertainer.” The reporter then pointed out that Parton was also a role model, she responded: “Yes I am. That’s why I don’t talk about people.” Parton followed up her comments with: “Like God gave us free will, America gave us free speech, but you’ve got to be responsible for anything you say and do.”

One of her best quotes is “If you see somebody without a smile, give ‘em one of yours!”

In 1991, Dolly Parton made a deal with every seventh and eighth-grade student in Sevier County, where she grew up: she would personally give them each $500 if they graduated high school. The children had to pick a buddy to hold each other accountable; if one didn’t graduate, the other wouldn’t get the cash. The idea worked: the county’s high school dropout rate plummeted from 35 percent to 6 percent. She single-handedly changed the culture and attitude among the students.

Then, she funded scholarships for Sevier students who wanted to continue their education beyond high school.

As a tribute to her father, she started the Imagination Library giving books to preschool children in Sevier County. She wanted to make sure the kids from her home county did not grow up with a lack of reading and writing holding them back.

“My father could not read and write, and I saw how crippling that could be,” she once said. And aside from improving child literacy, receiving a gift in the mail could do wonders for a child’s self-esteem. “It’s the fact they get recognized,” Parton once explained. “They get this little book with their little name on it in the mail, and they feel special. They start taking pride in themselves, and they know that somebody out there is thinking of them.” (The Guardian)

The program has been an amazing success. It started just in her home area of Sevier County. Now, 330 million age-appropriate books have been distributed for free to children from birth to age five in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia and Ireland by Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

Since its statewide launch in 2023, Missouri’s Dolly Parton Imagination Library has provided more than 4.3 million books to children from birth to age five. Missouri lawmakers cut the state portion of the funding from 6 million to 2 million dollars for this program last year. The Imagination Library’s future in Missouri and nationwide is uncertain unless a donor steps up to fill the gap.

Dolly Parton’s philanthropy was more than money. She was a leader, a mentor who inspired many others to give their time, resources and money to so many causes. Each of us has gifts that we can share to help our fellow humans.

One person can make a difference. Dolly changed the lives of children one book at a time. She improved American culture with music, humor and the Christian message that God loves each one of us.