Dolly Parton Makes Massive Donation to Hurricane Helene Relief; How You Can Help

[squirrels_oh_no]

Tennessee native Dolly Parton has pledged a $1 million donation to Hurricane Helene victims, with Parton's businesses in east Tennessee combining efforts to match the donation with their own $1 million contribution. https://t.co/KTYqXmQu1b pic.twitter.com/2T3oLSeqQu
- ABC News (@ABC) October 4, 2024
- Dolly Parton, originally from the mountains of

Comments

[yeah_banana]

Torn between wanting to help and not caring because these people keep electing politicians that vote against funding fema, denying climate change, and actively supporting Trump who said he would punish blue states because they didn’t vote for him. And I know that it’s not everyone, but I’m just really angry and bitter right now.

[kindpaddington]

I'll bet you'd feel differently if you lived in one of the affected areas.

If part of you wants to help, do so. It's never wrong to care about other people.

[yeah_banana]

Yes of course, but then I think about all the republicans that were against Sandy funding. Or Gaetz voting against FEMA funding right before this happened. And they’re still going to vote for these same republicans. It’s not like Tennessee isn’t going to vote for Trump after this because he doesn’t want to help some people with federal disasters. What’s the point of taking the high road when republicans are just going to continue to be assholes and we’re never going to make progress with them in power.

[kindpaddington]

This isn't about donating to a PAC, this is donating to relief efforts to help suffering, devastated people. If it helps you to think that not nearly all of them are Republicans, maybe that's a good way to look at it?

[peddlestools]

asheville is one of the most left-leaning places in the state. i've seen a lot of people from that region travel to Raleigh to do direct action in front of prisons and the state capitol building. are you bailing Black mothers out for mother's day and driving them home, like they are? like i did? what are you doing? because i saw A LOT of asheville residents travel to Raleigh during the bathroom bill protests and also participate in Black August and Black Mothers' Day. like, what are you doing?

[syvlie0o0]

Asheville is pretty much the only place in the entire region that's like that.

[squirrels_oh_no]

Boone and the Cullowhee areas also are to an extent (Boone/Watauga generally goes Democrat every year), but that's because of universities (I live in one of those areas). Some towns are liberal, but you go outside town limits and it becomes Republican. A lot of the wealthier seasonal areas are also Republican because it's rich people from Florida/Georgia.

[syvlie0o0]

I get the sentiment, because the ones screeching the loudest about conspiracy theories and how the government isn't helping are generally the same people who don't want federal government to exist. It only matters when they're the ones that need help.

But also, time and place...

[squirrels_oh_no]

PLEASE CARE! OMG I am here, and though my town is 95% fine (our biggest issue was we lost internet/cell service and had to boil water for a few days), we are gerrymandered to FUCK in NC. Republican or Democrat or not-giving-a-fuck-about-politics-ian, hundreds of people still lost their lives to an event that will become more prevalent because of human-induced climate change. Even if you don't want to support Trump, support groups that are doing some amazing work with a donation or talk about it on social media or something. I get that this is political because it has BECOME political because of asshole MAGA disinformation whozeewhatsits (I'm tired, it's been a long week and even in towns that were spared, we are still traumatized because we have friends just over the ridge that lost everything and just exhausted in general after spending days trying to contact loved ones without access to cell service or internet).

But at the end of the day... I read somewhere (probs Reddit) about someone from Europe asking "What makes Americans so

[familiardevil]

I really understand this frustration and I don't think it's helpful to act like people aren't allowed to have more than one emotion towards more conservative folks who are suffering right now. I say this as a Southerner who is VERY very aware that there are MANY folks in the South who are not conservative and BIPOC in particular who can be incredibly affected by these disasters and the politics that govern their state.

I'm allowed to feel less sympathetic towards people who have actively voted for politicians and policies that have helped put EVERYONE around them in this situation.

[drnilescrane]

Like squirrel said, we're gerrymandered as hell in NC, and the idea that people in the mountains are all MAGA idiots is a really broad brush to paint people who are incredibly disenfranchised and written off. I lived there for four years, have friends that live there, and it's full of people from all different walks of life

[peddlestools]

the gerrymandering is out of control, i remember camping out at city hall over that bullshit (i lived in durham county so got over to raleigh a lot)

[drnilescrane]

i learned how bad it was before i was an adult (clt living) because of school things. it's down to city levels, truly NC is crazy with it.

[evilfirepixie8]

You donating to a small town or local relief fund from your blue state - with your blue state address on that donation fund - would do more to change minds than holding back

[ellie_andrews]

Progressives have always and will always exist in Appalachia. So care, don't care. But rhetoric like this is hurtful & unhelpful.