Dolly Parton put on successful telethon for the Smoky Mountain Fire Victims

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Two weeks after the devastating fires in the Smoky Mountains, Dolly Parton once again came through to help her 'family'. Dolly considers anyone who lives in the area family, but as well all know she does have a huge 'real' family. When we lived in Sevierville we had a neighbor who was her aunt through marriage. Anyway, 'Smoky Mountains Rise' as the telethon was named, was to raise money for the families who lost their primary residences in Sevier County. That number is somewhere around 1,300 families. Many of whom are living in shelters or in motel rooms. There is a housing shortage as you can imagine. During the telethon large checks were dropped off by various organization and companies such as The Titans, CMA and others. Those checks that were handed to Dolly during the telethon totaled over $2,000,000. It will take a while to add up all the donations that were called in, texted and donated online to Dolly's foundation. The Dollywood Foundation will begin handing out checks to those families Thursday. Each family will receive $1,000 a month for six months. It may not sound like much to some of you, but to them it is a fortune. The latest numbers: . Homes/businesses destroyed/damaged: 2,400 . Damages estimates: Five Hundred Million Dollars . Deaths: 14 . Number of lives changed: too many to count Not everyone can donate, but everyone can say a prayer for the people, my neighbors, in East Tennessee. Thanks. Photo is mine from around the time we first moved to East Tennessee.