18 honoured ‘for philanthropic service’ at Pollyanna’s annual New York gala

On Saturday, March 7, 2026, the organizers got an opportunity to get all dressed up and just celebrate those who have assisted them over the decades, in putting smiles on the faces of children. 

Hosting the ‘Heart Like Thine Awards’ at Terrace on the Park in Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York, Pollyanna’s CEO Donna Moore-Stewart and her team staged their third annual fundraiser and trailblazer gala where they celebrated 18 outstanding awardees including three lifetime honourees: Jane Barr, Craig Baker and the Daley family, for their ongoing and invaluable philanthropic service.

 It was lights, cameras and plenty of action as awardees and well-wishers gathered to recognise those who put service above self. This year, the evening boasted an afro-centric theme complete with drummers and dancers, as in recent years, the project has been committed to doing several missions in the motherland of Africa. 

As Moore-Stewart told Old Harbour News, the awards was a necessary feel good moment for everyone who worked hard giving with no thoughts or expectations to receive anything in return. 

“These are people we can always count on, some having been supporting us for over thirty years so it is only fitting that we recognise real altruistic endeavours that have made the lives of the people they touch, that much better and easier. They don’t question, they don’t quarrel, they don’t criticize. They just give.”

The name of the award she said is simple and fitting because it leaves no place for guess work or ambiguity. 

“Like the name say, if your heart nuh right, nutten good can come outta it. There are people who have the best of intentions and just a good, clean hearts,’ she outlined. “We believe in the purity of heart and we believe in making these people feel appreciated because it is their efforts that fuel us and keeps our mission moving. The focus for our work is the various children’s charities we execute all over the world. The underserved children and the mothers who have no hope but because the acts of kindness through the Pollyanna Project, they can lift themselves up.  We are a growing organization and we need people to invest in what we do so that we can reach more persons globally.”

Currently, the Pollyanna Project is preparing to head to Sierra Leone back to the village where they had previously outfitted children with school supplies. Now they are headed back as another organization had started constructing a building but had ran out of funds. The village has given the Pollyanna Project permission to create a centre for developing entrepreneurial skills for young people. 

“So we are putting in eight sewing machines, computer and supporting solar panels. That is what we are working on. The shipment has already left the United States and should be there for distribution when we arrive,” Moore-Stewart said. “This is the work that we are blessed to be able to do: Make villages more self-sustainable; make men be able to provide for their families, allow women to have a purpose and a goal and to let the youngsters just be carefree, happy and hopefully educated children with a future.”      

 Pollyanna Project Inc. is a registered charity in both the United States and Jamaica, that was established in 1994 by Moore-Stewart and her siblings who grew up in Bodles, Old Harbour in honour of their mother Carmen ‘Miss Polly’ Hinds.