Had that happened, the program would already have represented significant assistance.
But donations to the fund had been strong.
And Dolly Parton and the Dollywood Foundation decided to do something different.
At the final distribution in May 2017, families learned that their last payment would not be $1,000.
It would be $5,000.
The surprise dramatically increased the total amount each qualifying household received.
Five earlier payments of $1,000 equaled $5,000.
The final $5,000 payment doubled that amount.
Total direct assistance:
$10,000 per family.
University of Tennessee materials documenting the wildfire recovery effort confirm that approximately 900 families received assistance and that the final monthly payment was increased to $5,000.
Imagine what that moment meant for a family still trying to rebuild.
They might have arrived expecting enough money to cover another month's expenses.
Instead, they were given several thousand dollars more.
For families facing construction bills, rental expenses, insurance gaps and the countless unexpected costs of starting over, it was substantial help.
More Than a Celebrity Donation
Celebrity philanthropy often makes headlines because of the size of a donation.
But the My People Fund was unusual for another reason.
The assistance went directly to households.
Parton was not simply lending her name to a fundraising campaign and then disappearing.
She used her public profile to attract attention, encouraged others to contribute and helped create a structure that delivered repeated payments to people who had lost their homes.
The program also reflected a principle increasingly discussed in humanitarian and disaster-relief research: sometimes people affected by a crisis are best positioned to determine what they need.
A person who has lost a home does not necessarily need someone else to decide that the most important thing is food, furniture or clothing.
Perhaps the family already has donated clothing but desperately needs money for a security deposit.
Perhaps insurance will replace the house eventually, but they need to pay rent now.
Perhaps they need fuel to commute farther to work because they have been displaced.
Perhaps they need to replace a computer used for employment.
Direct cash gives recipients the ability to make those decisions themselves.
That flexibility was one of the most distinctive features of the My People Fund.
Researchers Studied What Happened Next
The program eventually attracted academic interest because it offered researchers an opportunity to examine how unconditional cash transfers affected disaster survivors.
Researchers from the University of Tennessee College of Social Work evaluated the My People Fund and published a final report on its impact.
The research provided evidence that the program was not merely a heartwarming public-relations gesture.
The money had measurable consequences for recipients.
The study found that the monthly assistance helped families regain financial stability after the wildfire.
Recipients also reported improved ability to save for potential emergencies.
Those findings are significant because disasters often expose existing economic vulnerability.
Many American households have limited emergency savings.
When a home is destroyed, families may suddenly have to pay expenses they never planned for while simultaneously trying to replace things they previously owned.
Even insured households can experience delays, deductibles and uncovered costs.
For people without adequate insurance, the financial consequences can be much worse.
The My People Fund could not solve every problem caused by the wildfire.
But it could give survivors something extraordinarily useful during an uncertain period:
Choice.
Why East Tennessee Was So Personal to Dolly
To understand why Parton responded so strongly, it helps to understand her relationship with the region.
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born in 1946 in Sevier County.
She grew up in a large family in rural East Tennessee, and she has repeatedly drawn on those experiences throughout her career.
Songs such as "Coat of Many Colors" transformed memories of childhood poverty, family and love into some of her most enduring work.