Major Gifts From Gordon Parks, Mick Jagger

They’re from different generations and work in different fields. But Gordon Parks and Mick Jagger have something in common this week: Both acknowledged their roots with big donations.

Writer and photographer Parks is donating a collection of his work--photographs and poems valued at $100,000--to the new Mercy Health Center, which opened two months ago in his hometown of Fort Scott, Kan.

It will be Parks’ first exhibition in Fort Scott, about 60 miles south of the Kansas City area.

One work, a poem titled “Homecoming,” reflects the peace Parks has made with the town where he was born in 1912, and where he learned to face racism at an early age.

The Mercy Health Center Foundation will dedicate the exhibition to Parks’ parents, Sarah and Andrew Parks, who are buried along with his siblings in Fort Scott.

Parks, who directed movies including 1971’s “Shaft,” is still working at 89. Last month, he released a book, “A Star for Noon,” which is accompanied by a compact disc of his compositions.

Jagger, meanwhile, donated $150,000 to provide free string and wind instrument training for youngsters at England’s Dartford Grammar School, which he attended.

“I believe we should encourage children to sing and play instruments from an early age,” Jagger, 59, said from the United States, where the Rolling Stones are on tour.

“It is so important that they have somewhere like this where they can share their musical ideas and vision and be able to practice for as long as they like.”