On Wednesday, April 9, Ellen Liston, Public Relations Manager at Dollywood Parks & Resorts, and Carol Agee, Senior Manager of Partnership Marketing and Community Relations for Dollywood Parks and Resorts, welcomed members of PRSA’s Volunteer Chapter and the AFP Great Smoky Mountain Chapter to the Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. The meeting offered an in-depth look at the company’s longstanding commitment to philanthropy, grounded in Dollywood’s core value of service and its mission to uplift its neighbors when they are in need.
Carol Agee shared that Dollywood’s culture of giving begins with the park’s namesake and owner Dolly Parton. Inspired by Dolly’s lifelong generosity and passion for service, the company supports a wide range of programs that benefit both its employees and the surrounding Sevier County community. “We want to make sure that we are very good stewards of the resources that have been given to us,” Agee said. She emphasized that Dollywood’s philanthropic work is not driven by publicity or recognition but by a simple commitment to doing what’s right.
Dollywood’s tradition of giving dates back to its first operating season in 1986, and in 1988, the Dollywood Foundation was founded with a focus on education. Its first major initiative, the Buddy Program, offered $500 to every 7th and 8th grade student in Sevier County who graduated from high school with their “buddy,” who also got $500. This simple but powerful incentive helped lower the dropout rate for those classes from 35% to just 6%, sparking a broader community effort to support student success.
In 1995, the Dollywood Foundation launched what would become its most celebrated program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Originally a local initiative in Sevier County, the program mails free, age-appropriate books to children from birth to age five, with the intent to nurture a lifelong love of reading. What began as a small community effort has since grown into a global movement. By the end of 2025, the Imagination Library will have distributed more than 300 million books to children worldwide.
Dollywood has long supported the Dr. Robert F. Thomas Foundation, named after the physician who delivered Dolly Parton. This foundation was established to expand and improve healthcare services in Sevier County and continues to this day. In 2010, the company expanded its healthcare efforts with its support for the opening of the Dolly Parton Center for Women’s Services, which provides essential medical care to women living in Sevier County.
One of Dollywood’s most impactful acts of service came in the wake of the devastating 2016 wildfires in Sevier County. Within 48 hours of the fires, Dollywood and the Dollywood Foundation created the My People Fund to provide direct financial assistance to those who lost their homes in the disaster. In just three weeks, the Dollywood Foundation began distributing checks to the families who had been affected. The effort also included a telethon, organized in just 11 days, which raised $10.2 million and earned two Emmy Awards. Reflecting on the experience, Agee said it was “truly the most purposeful period of my career,” noting how the tragedy united the community like never before.
More recently, in response to the severe flooding caused by Hurricane Helene, Dolly Parton personally visited a Walmart parking lot in Newport, Tennessee, just 48 hours after the disaster, to donate $2 million toward recovery efforts - $1 million of her own money which was matched by her Dollywood company. As Agee remarked, “If there is a need and Dolly knows, she’s going to step up and deliver.”
Dollywood continues to support numerous nonprofit organizations that align with the needs of its employees and the community. These include Second Harvest, the Sevier County Food Pantry, Friends of the Smokies, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Through the Care More Program, Dollywood employees receive a paid day off to volunteer in their communities, encouraging a culture of compassion, service, and employee engagement.
Ellen Liston put it simply: “Every day you have a chance to make a difference.” While much of the work done by Dolly Parton, Dollywood, and its employees goes unnoticed by the media, the true reward lies in the lives they touch and the lasting impact they make on their employees and the families in their community.