God’s Love We Deliver Brought Out the Best of Broadway and Fashion for its Virtual Benefit
Last night, the Golden Hearts Awards—the charity benefit for God’s Love We Deliver—took the form of a highly delightful, hour-long program led by Michael Kors. The American Fashion designer called upon the starry circle of friends in his Rolodex to show him and GLWD support—and it likely wasn’t a tough sell.
The first-ever virtual Golden Hearts Awards began like this: Anna Wintour (Honorary Chairwoman of the night) rang Kors on FaceTime to discuss the event. “Did you come up with a fabulous way to start the show?” she prompted, seated at her World Trade Center desk behind her signature sunglasses. “You know how much I adore the theater,” Kors replied. “So, I thought we would open with some sort of fabulous opening act.” He proceeded to tell Wintour about all the potential talents he’s considering: Sarah Paulson, Alan Cumming, Seth Meyers, Beanie Feldstein, Bella Hadid, Kaia Gerber.
But how will he narrow it down? With auditions! “You’re going to make a bunch of celebrities and great actors audition to be on your Zoom show?” Wintour asked, incredulous. “And they say I’m difficult. Good luck!”
What followed was a rapid-fire style of auditions where each subsequent actor seems less suited for the job than the next. “My movie stalled because of COVID, but I am really inside my character and need to express her,” said Paulson in an unconvincing accent that aimed for French—next. Feldstein, meanwhile, couldn’t quite figure out how to unmute her audio on the call—next. Iman appeared with fantastical filters on her face, claiming they were authentic—next. And Kaia Gerber and Bella Hadid, on a group call, only wanted to speak on “precision thermoelectric measurements in high temperature resistivity systems”—next! Kors settled on comedian Amber Ruffin, who delivered a job well done. Now onto the charity.
Last night’s event took place on World AIDS Day, which was poignantly timed given God’s Love We Deliver’s origins. As Karen Pearl, president and CEO of the charity, explained, GLWD was born in 1985 as a way to end hunger and malnutrition among individuals in the New York area living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other serious illnesses.
“This evening, on World AIDS Day, I am reminded that we are made for this moment,” said Pearl. “35 years ago, God’s Love got started at the height of the AIDS pandemic, and here we are again in another pandemic—reaching the most vulnerable and most isolated is in our DNA. Once COVID hit the city, we were forced to change every part of our operations overnight. But what hasn’t changed is the love we put into every meal that we cook, package, and deliver. Since March, we have brought 4,000 new clients to our program. And this year we will cook and deliver 2.5 million meals.”
