“We have in this very room, the recipient of the next Courage and Civility Award,” Bezos, 58, said alongside Sanchez in apre-recorded videoshared on his social media feeds Saturday. “The woman you’re about to meet embodies these ideals so thoroughly.”
“She gives with her heart,” he continued. “What she’s done for kids, for illiteracy and so many other things — is just incredible. It is my great honor to welcome the 2022 Courage and Civility recipient up on stage. Dolly Parton.”
“Did you say 100 million dollars?!” Parton, 76, reacted after she received the honor in a sparkly, black gown.
Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images; Karwai Tang/WireImage
“When people are in a position to help, you should help,” the country music legend urged to the cheering intimate audience. “And I know that I’ve always said I try to put my money where my heart is, and I think you do the same thing.”
“I’m going to try do my best to do good things with this money,” Parton pledged, adding, “Thank you, Jeff.”
Parton — who was inducted into the2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fameon Nov. 5 — has long been a positive force behind supporting kids who have difficulty reading.
The Bezos Award For Courage & Civility
In June, the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville also announced that Parton donated$1 million for pediatric infectiousdisease research, following a previous $1 million donation towards research into the Moderna COVID vaccine in 2020.
“No child should ever have to suffer,” Parton said in a press release in June. “I’m willing to do my part to try and keep as many of them as I can as healthy and safe as possible.”
Dolly Parton.Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
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“I’m kind ofaddicted to the feeling of giving,” Parton told PEOPLE in December about her philanthropic work for a People of the Year cover. “Knowing that I’m doing something good for someone else.”
Despite this Parton admitted she is still slightly uncomfortable with being recognized for her good deeds. “I have to honestly tell you, I was a little bit skeptical of being put on the cover as one of the People of the Year,” she added. “Because that’s a lot of pressure. But, yeah, it’s like, I am not all that. I’m glad that I stand for enough stuff to where I’m not theworstperson in the world.”
source: people.com
