we didn't have a house anymore. it was a disaster. >> katrina generation is a bunch of kids that are dealing with a lot. not having a house is a lot to deal with. >> well, i've seen violence. >> they're dealing with their parents not being in their life. >> selling drugs. >> in new orleans right now, it is a lot easier to get a gun than an instrument. five, six, seven, eight. the vision i had would actually teach them discipline, unity. >> sir tabb is a good role model to follow after. >> you all did that good. that sound good. i stepped in and started this program because i honestly didn't think that nobody knew what the kids needed. >> ah! >> you almost got it. i felt i was the best man for

the job, because i'm a big old kid. >> a lot of people don't have money to put their child in a program like this. and for it to be free is a good thing. ♪ >> a lot of people say that new orleans don't have any hope. i had all this in my head just to help kids. you have some kind of hope. you could do this. you know? and i could help you do this. to me, this program is hope. >> ladies and gentlemen, please

welcome cnn hero derrick tabb. ♪ >> first of all, it is a true honor to be here amongst all these great heroes. i started my program, the roots of music, basically to take kids off the street. it was inspired by mr. donald richardson, my middle school band director. i was faced by a lot of peer pressure on the streets. without the music i would probably be in jail or dead. i want to give the kids the same musical opportunity i had. i want kids to be wiser than myself and my generation. that's why we emphasize academic support for academic success. please, world, continue to support the roots of music and all the kids around the world because they are truly the future. last but not least, support the

heroes that was here today. thank you all. >> those of us who did not struggle for food today are the lucky ones. more than 800 million people around the globe will go to bed hungry tonight. where do we begin to make a change? well, one hero started in his own kitchen. to share his story, we have a spokesman for the national kidney foundation whose fund raising efforts for earthquake victims in guatemala earned him the honorary title of mayor of los angeles. george lopez. >> hello, everyone. i'm sanjay gupta. lou dobbs could not be here tonight. how many times have you driven

by a group of people standing on the corner and you know that they need help but you never stop the car and do something? well, our next hero jorge munoz -- i got it like that -- he did. jorge! jorge munoz! asked a group of men, are you hungry? and now, every night jorge feeds as many as 140 people on the corner of roosevelt avenue in queens, new york. he spends all day driving the school bus and then goes home and cooks with his family pots of rice, beans and chicken and i'll tell you this, after 16 years of marriage i'm very envious of that. at around 9:30 at night, he takes the meals out and hands them out one by one who to the people who are always waiting.

jorge's called the angel of queens, the superman of roosevelt avenue. he is my hero because one day he rolled a window down and asked, are you hungry? >> i'm school bus driver. one day, i see these guys standing in the street. i saw them and say, why these guys doing here? i stop and i ask them. he says, the day laborers spend the whole day on the corner hoping to get a job. says, if we have a job, we got money to eat. if not, we don't eat nothing today. so i say, okay. wait for me tomorrow here and i'm going to bring something to eat. i get up at like 5:15 in the morning. getting on my bus around 6:30. i finish my work around 5:00.

be back home around 6:00. and i start my second job. ♪ this is a family operation. justin! la pasta, por favor. the beginning, friend of mine, he donated a lot of bread, and then later i got more donations. the food start to come in big and big. little, little by little, the whole inside of the house is getting smaller, smaller. now i have six refrigerators in my house. today, we're going to cook chicken, rice and beans. we're going to pack them up, drive to the corner. ♪ in the beginning it was eight guys. two weeks later it was like 110, 120. sometimes 140.

but things got, i got enough food for everybody. i have my family, my sister i have at home. i have stable job. whatever i have wanted, i have. they are alone. they have nothing. they don't even have a place to stay. they don't have a place to sleep. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: a lot of people here call him the superman of roosevelt avenue. he is a person that sees the emotion and needs of all of us. >> these people got something to eat tonight. when you see that smile, you say you're doing something good. just give them a meal and i say, "see you tomorrow." >> join me in honoring cnn hero

jorge munoz! ♪ >> first of all, thanks, god. thank you so much, cnn. right now, i want to -- everyone to know that my sister is in queens. she stayed home, and thanks to

her, no one is hungry tonight. i want to thank my family for helping me with all the cooking. i want to thank everyone that donates the food and the money. we couldn't do it without your help. i want to tell you who is my hero. she's my mom. she's right there. she's retired. she should be able to kick up her feet and watch tv but she help me to cook. you saw how the pack at home is. maybe after these, mom, your house is going to be back to you. she's my hero because she told me to share, and if we all just share a little bit, no one's

going to be hungry tonight. [ speaking foreign language ] god bless this country. thank you so much. 

our next performer's music is the perfect accompaniment for tonight's heroes. it's fearless, it's powerful and it touches the spirit and he's here to remind us to help somebody. join me in welcoming the man who wrestled the title of ambassador of soul away from me, maxwell. ♪ there's a moving inner peace that i love to see ♪ ♪ gotta raise my soul to tell you how i feel ♪ ♪ gotta listen to the tears that people cry for me ♪ ♪ in a world that's so wild fear creeps ♪ ♪ 'cause when i get up to hear you ♪ ♪ tears just fill my eyes ♪ now i know i got to let the

selfishness subside ♪ ♪ tell 'em y'all ♪ help somebody ♪ help somebody ♪ show them what it is ♪ give a little bit more ♪ help somebody ♪ help somebody ♪ show them what it is ♪ let 'em know ♪ if you see the future ask it if i'm there ♪ ♪ ask it if i'm there ♪ ask it to tell you did i ever make a stand ♪ ♪ ask if you may care to mention, did i learn from everybody ♪ ♪ and even if it takes a sea of eternity to know ♪ ♪ help somebody ♪ i'll wait a century a buried mess of bones ♪ ♪ help me ♪ help me to give myself the way that you've given you ♪ ♪ help somebody ♪ help me to be the helping hand that makes a dream come true ♪ ♪ help somebody ♪ help somebody ♪ show them what it is

♪ give a little bit more ♪ help somebody ♪ help somebody ♪ show them what it is ♪ let 'em know ♪ help somebody ♪ help somebody ♪ show them what it is ♪ give a little bit more >> to the heroes of cnn. ♪ help somebody ♪ help somebody ♪ show them what it is ♪ let 'em know ♪ if you see the future ask it if i'm there ♪ ♪ if i'm there if i'm there if i'm there ♪ cnn heroes is proudly sponsored by -- in war, it is often children who suffer the most and our next hero saw the war in iraq and saw a need not being filled and if i'm there ♪ ♪ if i'm there if i'm there if i'm there ♪

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in war, it is often children who suffer the most and our next hero saw the war in iraq and saw a need not being filled and asked how can i help? he's brought together united states and iraqi military forces in the common goal of saving young lives. here to salute a hero, the chairman and founder of the rob foundation and star of the upcoming film "the tooth fairy," dwayne johnson.

>> as a parent, i would do anything for my daughter. if she needed me to carry her across mountains, deserts, the whole country, then i would. every child deserves this kind of devotion. even on their darkest days, they need someone to lift them up and show them there's hope. that is our solemn bond and our hero brad blauser is its keeper. brad went to iraq to work as a civilian contractor and found his calling. in baghdad, he heard stories about parents carrying their children with walking disabilities and how some young girls and boys would pull themselves through the streets. so he asked an army doctor what was the greatest need and the doctor responded, children's wheelchairs. in a month, brad had 31 of them

and founded wheelchairs for iraqi kids. so far, he's provided 700 chairs. [ applause ] for the first time in these kids' lives, they aren't looking back over their father's shoulder or to the side cradled in their mother's arms. they're moving with their eyes looking forward. our hero saw a need and he filled it in a war zone. that act of courage and compassion that's strong enough to carry all of us. >> iraq is a country bring that's been through some tremendous struggles.

being out in the city on your own is taking your life in your own hands. i've been told if i went out on my own i would last about three hours. unfortunately, it's a situation where a lot of people, adults and children, are caught in the crossfire. i had no idea i would end up in the middle of a war zone giving out pediatric wheelchairs to children who had no way of getting them. when we go out on these missions i know sometimes my life is on the line but i'm willing to take that risk because the lives of these children mean so much. there's hundreds of thousands of children in iraq who need these. i've become the source and the supply of children's wheelchairs but even more so, i'm the source and supply of hope. ready to unload. one right here.

a lot of times the children haven't slept the night before because they know they're going to get a child's wheelchair for the first time. they have seen them. they've wished for one and now they're going to get one. lay back. put your head there. you can take her out to the market. you can take her anywhere with you. i never really come to a point of just wanting to walk away. how can i leave? i've become their voice. [ speaking foreign language ] >> back in 2006, we did our very first wheelchair distribution in the sinjar province. right as the wheelchair distribution began, we saw somebody coming over the hill and he was coming in our direction. some soldiers looked and saw that he had a child he was carrying an older boy. as the soldiers ran up to help

take the child from his arms, he pulled back and he said, no, i've carried my boy all his life. i can carry him the last 100 meters so i can give him his wheelchair. >> please join me in honoring cnn hero brad blauser. [ applause ]

>> last year, i was in the heart of a war zone watching this show and i can't believe that one year later i'm standing on the stage. this all began when i asked a friend, lieutenant colonel david brown, what he needed and he said, children's wheelchairs. david, i'm so glad that you're here with us tonight. children with disabilities are a blessing. they deserve to have their mobility needs met. because all kids are precious in god's sight. thank you so much to my family and my mother and my father. all the generous donors who support us. my friends that reach out and care wheels, the iraqi people and the u.s. military for all their support.

thank you so much and giga ma eas. thank you. >> our next hero is a figure of remarkable generosity. he's a man who saw a young refugees without homes, saw them without food and he wouldn't stand for it anymore. he opened his doors, becoming a father to many and a hero to us all. here to tell his story is a woman working with the wildaid organization, kate hudson. >> good evening. a kid should just be able to be a kid. they should be able to run, play, make up stories and jump and dance around to music the way my son does. kids should feel loved and safe. they should never have to witness the horrors of war, walk

across a border alone or live in a camp, abandoned, scared and hopeless. this is why budi soehardi is one of the most courageous men in town. in 1999, after the slaughter in east timor, budi, a pilot, organized a relief drop to refugee camps. in the middle of the chaos, he met the tiniest victims, the orphans. he could have walked away and said i've done enough but instead budi built more, he built them a home, a home for medical care and gives them an education. but budi goes one step further. he promises to be their father until they grow up. to 48 kids, he's their dad. [ applause ] they get to run and play because

of him. they get to imagine and laugh because of him. they get to just be kids because budi is their hero. >> you can name any child. i can give you sets. some children are just left at the door of the orphanage. most of the children are here because their mother passed away in childbirth. extreme poverty or the family had too many children. because of that, my wife, peggy, and i decided to build the orphanage. the intention is to give them tools for their life which is in the form of a proper education. we treat the children here as if they are our own children. they call me pa budi and my wife es mama.

so we will look after them the best we could and at the end of the day, they do not owe us anything. my salary has been the main financial provider for this orphanage. behind me is a rice field and that's where we make ourselves self-sufficient on rice. we're feeding the orphanage and give rice to the people who are suffering. hello. when i'm able to bring a new child our home here, my wife and i are really happy.

we were having 47 children, but as of today 48 is with us. welcome home. this is your new place. all right? you are going to grow up here with lots and lots of new siblings. if you do things based on the passion you are having, the success rate will be very high. ♪ if you only want material satisfaction, you will never be happy. but if you are able to give somebody's future better, that really is rewarding.

>> ladies and gentlemen, please join me in honoring cnn hero budi soehardi. >> good evening, ladies and gentlemen. thank you, cnn. this is your captain speaking. greetings from roslin orphanage.

we started with nothing but today roslin orphanage is a place where you can ask for help, a place you can give your help, a place where we can work together based on humanity to do things for others. as for myself, i'm far from being hero but let me introduce the real hero in my life. my wife, peggy. there are three other heroes in my life, as well. my daughter christine, tasha and christian.

i love you very much. they have been sacrificing their holidays for the last eight years and they never been traveling overseas. even though they have the privilege to have traveled around the world first class on the best airlines. instead, they are helping us at the orphanage and never fail year after year. thank you, children. we can do better if you come along, join us and i guarantee

that this world will be a better place. and to the humanity, i accept the reward. coming up, pierce brosnan, a live performance by carrie underwood and we'll announce the cnn hero of the year. i chose the boys & girls clubs. it's an investment for the future. i chose the national wildlife federation. our pets are our kids. we chose the aspca. we're sharing the love again this year. because giving back feels good. on the subaru outback, motor trend's 2010 and two hundred fifty dollars gets donated to your choice of five charities. does it alert you without interrupting what you're doing ? does it alert you without interrupting what you're doing

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>> good evening, ladies and gentlemen. my first wife casi was a young woman making her way through the world. she was a magnificent mother, she was a wonderful actor, who was human, generous, graceful in her work, just like she lived her life. then, everything changed when cancer knocked on our door. we took our turns caring for her when she was weak. and we never stopped missing her now that she is gone. there are too many of us who have lost someone to this brutal disease called cancer. and we are all sick and tired of cancer winning. it is time we had more survivors like our hero andrea ivory

knocking on our doors instead. andrea is a breast cancer survivor. early detection and support from her family gave her a fighting chance but she knew millions of women were dying because their cancer was detected too late. so she started the florida breast health initiative to sign up uninsured women for free mammograms. with her volunteers, she's gone door to door to beat this disease, not just a few doors, but more than 20,000. that's how tired andrea is of cancer winning. and if all of us fight, march, walk, run and knock on as many doors as possible, right alongside our hero, this cancer doesn't stand a chance. >> i had cancer. i had health insurance, but throughout my treatment and

recovery, i was thinking about those women who didn't have health insurance. it was right then and there throughout my recovery, i just knew i had to make a difference in their lives. good morning, everyone. every woman regardless of her ability to pay has a right to benefit from the early detection of breast cancer. the first thing they notice is probably her hair. it's always perfectly done. >> florida breast health initiative. >> second thing you notice about andrea is that she is very stubborn. >> please, let me make an appointment for you. it's so convenient. they don't have health insurance, we can get them a free health screening. okay? i knew i had to have an unconventional approach. if we could bring the services to them, that makes all the difference in the world. we go to neighborhoods that are

forgotten. had anybody in your family had breast cancer? >> my mother. >> your mother had breast cancer. how is she doing? >> she passed away when i was 7. >> one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. >> my mom went into the hospital, and they didn't accept her because she didn't have health insurance. >> very scary. if i have to go through anything else, how will i afford that? >> i introduced andrea to my mom. she got us to free mammogram. when we got the phone call that the mammogram was negative, that was one of the best moments of my life. >> i'm just happy. >> not raining, yes! if you could tell me that we would be visiting 20,000 homes or we would have helped over 600 women, i would have told you, i wasn't part of that. ge out of here! when i talk to my volunteers or

when i go knock on the door and talk to a woman, it's almost like an out of body experience. it is not really me because i would have never done this years ago. so are you coming back next week? you feel the power? i feel the power. >> andrea put faith in me in people. now today, i have faith in people. we need more people that care for all the people. >> when i was diagnosed with breast cancer, i never asked "why me?" instead, i asked "what for?" >> ladies and gentlemen, it's my honor to present cnn hero andrea ivory. >> wow. thank you.

i'd like to thank all associated with the florida breast health initiative and cnn for their support. we know early detection saves lives and last month i celebrated five years being cancer free. [ applause ] a fifth grader wrote a letter why he wanted me to be here tonight. he thought that i could knock on every door in america and it would help doctors find a cure. he wanted me to be here tonight because his mom died from breast cancer, and he didn't want other children to feel like him. he has become my inspiration, and though i couldn't knock on every door in america, i will knock on every door possible because i, too, don't want another child to lose their mom to breast cancer.

thank you so very much. to my wonderful husband willie, who's my co-survivor, and thank you so very much for this honor. thank you. sfx:racking of a taillight.

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a singer has come to our

many causes including her own hometown inspiration. her song is about a small gesture making a big difference. ladies and gentlemen, carrie underwood. ♪ ♪ what'cha gonna do with the 36 cents ♪ ♪ sticky with coke on your ♪ ♪ what'cha gonna do with the 36 cents ♪ ♪ sticky with coke on your floorboard ♪ ♪ when a woman on the street is huddled in the cold ♪ ♪ on a sidewalk bench trying to keep warm ♪ ♪ do you call her over and hand her the change ♪ ♪ ask her a story ask her her name ♪ ♪ or do you tell yourself you're

just a fool ♪ ♪ just a fool ♪ to believe you can change the world ♪ ♪ you're just a fool ♪ just a fool to believe you can change the world ♪ ♪ what'cha gonna do when you're watching tv ♪ ♪ and an ad comes on ♪ yeah, you know the kind ♪ flashin' up pictures of a child in need ♪ ♪ for a dime a day you can save a life ♪ ♪ do you call the number reach out a hand ♪ ♪ or do you change the channel call it a scam ♪ ♪ or do you tell yourself you're just a fool ♪ ♪ just a fool ♪ to believe you can change the world ♪ ♪ don't listen to them when they say ♪ ♪ you're just a fool ♪ just a fool

♪ to believe you can change the world ♪ ♪ oh the smaller thing can make difference ♪ ♪ love is alive ♪ don't listen to them when they say you're just a fool ♪ ♪ just a fool ♪ to believe you can change the world ♪ ♪ the world's so big it could break your heart ♪ ♪ and you just wanna help but not sure where to start ♪ ♪ so you close your eyes ♪ send up a prayer into the dark ♪ ♪ you're just a fool ♪ just a fool ♪ to believe you can change the world ♪ ♪ don't listen to them when they say you're just a fool ♪ ♪ just a fool ♪ to believe you can change the world ♪ ♪ oh the smallest thing can make

all the difference ♪ ♪ love is alive ♪ don't listen to them when they say you're just a fool ♪ ♪ just a fool ♪ to believe you can change the world ♪ [ applause ] >> god bless you guys. (announcer) pillsbury bakes up bigger than the leading store brand.

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well, we have met our ten heroes. we have met our ten heroes each of whom is awarded $10,000 to carry on their urgent work. now the moment arrives when we declare our cnn hero of the year. each time one of our ten nominees graced this stage, we were all reminded that every day people can change this world. since cnn announced the top ten heroes, we have asked people from all over the world to go to cnn.com/heroes and vote for the hero who inspired them the most.

we have received more than 2.5 million votes and tonight hero with the most vote wills receive an additional $100,000 grant to continue their extraordinary work. ladies and gentlemen, it is my great privilege to announce the cnn hero of the year. the cnn hero of the year is efren penaflorida. [ applause ] [ applause ]

>> thank you. our planet is filled with heroes. young and old. rich and poor. man, woman of different colors,

shapes and sizes. we are one great tapestry. each person has a hidden hero within. just have to look inside you and search it in your heart. so, to each and every person inside in this theater and for those who are watching at home, the hero in you is waiting to be unleashed. as i always tell to my volunteers of dynamic club 8586 incorporated, you are the change that you dream. as i am the change that i dream.

and collectively, we are the change that this world needs to be. mabui. >> wow. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. thanks. i want to bring all our distinguished honorees to join efren. if all the heroes could come up. how are you? these are the men and women who have put their hearts and souls into making life better for all of us. like to leave you with the words of abraham lincoln that said determine the thing that can and shall be done and then we shall find a way. we can change our world and the heroes have shown us the way, and they have the courage to lead. go to cnn.com/heroes. find out how and also where you can tell us about a hero that should be recognized.

nominations for 2010 hero open right now. thank you, heroes, for all you've done. i'm anderson cooper. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com