NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin to Present Hospital Partner of the Year Award to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center at Healthy Humor's 10th Anniversary Gala

New York, NY, August 25, 2026 --(PR.com)-- Healthy Humor, a national professional arts organization bringing joy, play, and emotional support to children and families facing serious illness, today announced that New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin will join its 10th Anniversary Gala, A Decade of Delight, on October 19, 2026, at City Winery NYC.

Speaker Menin will present Healthy Humor's Hospital Partner of the Year Award to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), recognizing MSK's leadership and commitment to caring for the whole child, not just the disease.

Healthy Humor is also pleased to announce that Council Member Mercedes Narcisse, Chair of the Council's Committee on Hospitals and herself a nurse, will join the celebration as well. Her participation underscores the growing recognition that arts-based emotional and psychosocial supports are an essential part of the healing process.

"I am delighted to join Healthy Humor in celebrating this important milestone and to recognize Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for its extraordinary commitment to its patients," said Speaker Menin. "For any child or family, a hospital stay can be frightening and overwhelming, but Healthy Humor has spent the last decade bringing moments of joy, laughter, and comfort when they are needed most."

Council Member Mercedes Narcisse said, “I've spent enough time on hospital floors to know that medicine only gets you part of the way. A scared kid stays scared until something gets through, and that's what Healthy Humor's Red Nose Docs do. Ten years of doing it in New York City hospitals is truly worth celebrating, and I'm glad to be there to support.”

"We are incredibly honored to welcome Speaker Menin and Council Member Narcisse to our 10th Anniversary Gala," said Dina Paul-Parks, Co-Founder and CEO of Healthy Humor. "Their participation is a meaningful recognition of the importance of arts-based emotional care for children and families facing the unimaginable. We are especially thrilled to have Speaker Menin present the Hospital of the Year Award to MSK, whose partnership and leadership exemplify what is possible when joy and connection are made part of the healthcare experience."

A Decade of Delight will bring together leaders from healthcare, philanthropy, business, and the arts to celebrate a decade of Healthy Humor's work transforming the hospital experience through the healing power of play, humor, and connection. The evening will also honor M&T Bank as Corporate Partner of the Year and present the Michael Christensen Award to Christopher Bailey, Co-Founding Director Emeritus of the WHO Jameel Arts and Health Lab, and Deborah Kaufmann, Co-Founder and Director of Training and Education Emerita at Healthy Humor.

As Healthy Humor enters its second decade, the organization is focused on expanding access to this art form that facilitates healing in pediatric healthcare and beyond, and on advancing the recognition of laughter and play as essential components of care.

About Healthy Humor

Healthy Humor is a national nonprofit arts organization whose professional performers create moments of joy, wonder, laughter, and comfort for hospitalized children and all others who are most in need. HH’s Red Nose Docs serve more than 500,000 children and families annually at 12 hospitals across the country, including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital-Stanford. A leader in using the art of therapeutic clowning to support trauma-informed care in pediatric healthcare, Healthy Humor is committed to children’s mental and emotional well-being and the belief that every child deserves joy, dignity, and connection, even — and perhaps especially — in the hospital, when they are at their most vulnerable.