Dollywood Makes Huge Announcement

We didn’t think we could love Dolly Parton anymore than we do, and then her amusement park goes and does this!

Not only is Dolly Parton a country music legend, she also is incredibly philanthropic. In 1995, she started Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which is “a free book gifting program that mails high-quality, age-appropriate books to children from birth until they start school.”

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She also pledged monthly payments to all the victims who lost their homes in the devastating Gatlinburg fires in 2016. In total, $12.5 million dollars went to the people of Sevier County from her foundation.

Now, employees who work at her theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee have a chance to do something they may not have been able to before.

It was announced this week that Herschend Enterprises, the operating company behind Dollywood and many other endeavors, will “start covering 100% of tuition, fees, and books for any of their employees who wish to further their schooling” beginning this month.

According to Vanity Fair, “Hosts will be able to enroll starting on their first day of work in diploma, degree and certificate programs offered through 30 learning partners and in subjects such as business administration and leadership, culinary, finance, technology, and marketing”

Eugene Naughton, who is the president of The Dollywood Company, told local Tennessee news outlet WATE, “We know when our hosts are happy and feel cared for that they are going to pass that along to our guests. The creation of the program allows another avenue for us to care for our hosts.”

The program is called GROW U.

He continued, “One of The Dollywood Foundation’s key tenets is to ‘learn more.’ This program is created with that very tenet in mind. We want our hosts to develop themselves through advanced learning to fulfill the foundation’s other tenets: care more, dream more, and be more. When our hosts strive to grow themselves, it makes our business and our community a truly better place.”

Dolly truly is the best there is, and this and even more proof!