Dolly Parton Supports Children’s Disease Research With A $1 Million Donation

We have heard about Dolly Parton giving to various charities and she is back at it again.

This time, she has donated $1 million to help with the research of pediatric infectious disease at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

According to an announcement, the gift will help doctors to have a better idea of how bacteria and viruses lead to disease.

It also will assist with “understanding and preventing resistance to antibiotics, preventing and treating infections, diagnosing and treating infections in children with cancer and research to define the impact of childhood infections throughout the world.”

In the press release, Dolly Parton went on to talk about how she desires to end the suffering of children. She said that she has a love for all children and that no children should suffer.

Previously, the country music singer has helped Vanderbilt with other donations. This included in April 2020, when she donated $1 million to help scientists involved with vaccine trials for COVID-19.

Photo: flickr/Eva Rinaldi

In speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, she said that she just wanted to help because she knew “something bad was on the rise.”

She went on to say: “Mine was a small part, of course. I probably get a lot more credit than I deserve. I was happy to be a part of that and to be able to try to stopp something in its tracks that’s really become just such a monster for all of us.”

Other donations have come from Dolly Parton over the years. This includes donating some 170 million books to children under the age of five through her Imagination Library foundation.

Photo: flickr/pipilongstockings

Perhaps she said it best when speaking to People, when she said that she was addicted to the feeling of giving. She has been recognized for this in the past, but because of conflicts during the coronavirus pandemic, she had to turn down the Presidential Medal of Freedom two different times.

She said: “I couldn’t accept it because my husband was ill and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn’t travel because of the COVID.”