NASHVILLE, TN (CelebrityAccess) – Country music icon Dolly Parton was honored with Leadership Tennessee’s first-ever Dolly Parton Excellence in Leadership Award on Saturday at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
According to The Associated Press, Leadership Tennessee officials said that Parton was given the award for her “selfless work to improve lives across Tennessee.”
Since 1995, Parton’s “Imagination Library,” which mails children free books from the time they are born until they begin school, independent of family income, has sent out more than 100 million books. More recently, her “Smoky Mountains Rise” telethon raised more than $12 million for victims of the Gatlinburg fires of 2016.
During her acceptance speech, Parton said, “I hope I’ve left this world a little better than I found it.”
