Anyone who knows anything about Dolly Parton knows how much she loves her Tennessee Mountain Home and values the region where she was brought up. With the Great Smokey Mountains burning this past week, Parton knows well the families that are being displaced and possibly losing everything are likely people who can least afford such a tragedy.

In a video posted on Wednesday, Ms. Parton expresses her gratitude for those helping in the relief effort and announced the creation of a fund to assist as well.

The My People Fund plans to give $1,000 a month to each of the affected families for the next six months “to provide a hand up to those families who have lost everything in the fires. I know it has been a trying time for my people and this assistance will help get them back on their feet.”

She reminds us that when our communities need help, we should look around us first. “I’ve always believed charity begins at home and my home is some place special,” she says. In the days where we see old and young alike being more okay than ever before with the idea that the government should take care of ever

In the days where we see old and young alike being more okay than ever before with the idea that the government should take care of everything. Where government programs have taken over what used to be the purview of local churches and charities, it’s nice to be reminded that we, not the government are responsible for taking care of our neighbors. That Americans are still some of the most generous in the world and that we still know that looking to the government to help should be an option of last resort.