God’s Love We Deliver’s 2026 Golden Heart Awards Celebrate Julia Louis‑Dreyfus, Misty Copeland and Andrew Scott
On Monday evening the nonprofit God’s Love We Deliver marked its 20th annual Golden Heart Awards with a glittering fundraiser in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights. The organization, which has delivered more than 40 million medically tailored meals since it began, hosted the gala inside the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, a sprawling Gothic space of 121,000 square feet with 177‑foot ceilings. The charity’s modest start in 1985 – a single meal delivery that soon moved to a small church on West 86th and Amsterdam where volunteers prepared about 50 meals a day for New Yorkers during the height of the AIDS crisis – has grown into a citywide effort that now spans decades.
Approximately 700 guests arrived on the cathedral steps, among them longtime supporter and fashion designer Michael Kors. Kors, a New Yorker for his entire life, co‑chairs the event with honorary chair Anna Wintour, who was also present. The head table featured Olivia Munn, Nicky Hilton, Lea Michele, Annabelle Wallis, Martha Stewart and Judith Light, all dressed in Michael Kors Collection ensembles.
Kors, who has worked with the organization for 35 years, was honored with an award named after him. “I always say these people are the picture—I just make the frame,” he told Vogue when asked about presenting the Michael Kors Award for Inspiring Philanthropy, a distinction previously given to Hillary Clinton, Sarah Jessica Parker and Audra McDonald. “I’m happy, of course, to be able to give this award to the people who we really feel are so deserving every year. It’s a pinch‑me situation and it never gets old.”
The evening opened with remarks from former Michael Kors Award winner Neil Patrick Harris and his partner David Burtka. Guests enjoyed a menu inspired by the season while Terrence Meck, president and CEO of God’s Love We Deliver, joked that this was the best Monday night of the year, a lighthearted reference to another major fundraising event Wintour leads each May.
Actor Andrew Scott received the Golden Heart Award for Outstanding Humanitarianism and Cultural Impact. He was recognized for his upcoming biographical drama Elsinore, in which he portrays Scottish actor Ian Charleson, a Hamlet performer who continued to work while battling a terminal AIDS diagnosis. “In the same year that Ian was in London playing this part, sneaking out of the hospital to get to the theater, people here in New York were knocking on doors with a meal for people that the rest of the world had decided to stigmatize, judge, and forget about,” Scott said. “More than 40 years later, those people are still knocking on those doors.”
Eleven‑time Emmy winner Julia Louis‑Dreyfus was presented the Golden Heart Award for Outstanding Artistry and Advocacy by Vogue photographer Chloe Malle. Fresh from her Broadway debut in Other Desert Cities, Louis‑Dreyfus spoke about her long‑standing support of the environment and her board role with the Natural Resources Defense Council, but she lingered on a personal memory from her breast‑cancer battle. “Now when I look back on that exceptionally difficult time in my life, it’s not the illness that I remember—it’s the chili with cornbread on top that my beloved mom cooked for me,” she said. “I am so happy to support God’s Love We Deliver. The work they do is critical and urgent. I love this organization.”
When Kors presented an award to Misty Copeland, he highlighted her historic achievement as the first Black principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre and her work launching free after‑school ballet programs for children in the Bronx and Harlem through her foundation. Last year she also provided movement classes for adults over 50. “I want everyone to experience all that people give of themselves every day to make a difference in someone’s life,” Copeland said.
The gala concluded with a performance by Tony‑nominated Jasmine Amy Rogers. Fundraising guru Harry Santa‑Olalla, known as “The Fundraising Guy,” led a rapid paddle that raised more than $1.5 million in the first fifteen minutes. He warned that anyone who did not pledge would automatically be assigned a $500 contribution. High‑profile donors such as Martha Stewart and Paige DeSorbo raised their hands for five‑figure gifts, and the event closed with nearly $4 million collected.
Earlier this year God’s Love We Deliver opened Liberty BKLYN, a 30,000‑square‑foot meal distribution center in Sunset Park. Kors explained that the new space serves not only patients but also caregivers and their families, making the program more inclusive. “With our new space in Brooklyn, we’re really able to roll up our sleeves and whatever comes our way, we can manage it,” he told Vogue. When asked about his hopes for the coming year, he replied, “Bigger and better, always.”