CNN announced its Top 10 CNN Heroes for 2011, while opening online voting that will determine the winner of the $250,000 grand prize. All ten heroes will be featured on the 5th annual celebrity-filled award gala airing in December. These ten will each receive $50,0000 to continue their world-changing work.
A heroic New Mexico man who alertly rescued a 6-year-old girl from the clutches of a kidnapper is proof no good deed goes unnoticed. Cops and reporters are being bombarded with requests from people who want Antonio Diaz Chacon's address so they can send him gift cards and cash.
Afghanistan, with more than a million orphans, has been called the worst place to be a child. But one woman is trying to improve the lives of Afghan orphans and change the sobering statistics. The 28-year-old had a turbulent childhood herself, living in refugee camps before returning to her country to found the Afghan Child Education and Care Organization, which creates safe and progressive orphanages.
James Slatcher is being hailed a hero, credited with saving more than 100 lives, after a devastating fire tore through a 36-unit townhouse development in Sutton. The 21-year-old was out playing basketball at around 3 a.m. when he noticed the smoke and sprang into action.
In this recession, many Americans are struggling to make ends meet, but people in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, have a unique safety net of sorts: Sal Dimiceli. Raised in poverty, Sal vowed when he was 12 years old that he'd always help people in need, and he's spent nearly all of his adult life making good on that promise, partly through his newspaper column, which invites those who've fallen on hard times to write to him.
Enchanted Makeovers is celebrating its fifth year working in women's shelters to transform interior spaces -- drab bunks and windows -- with cheery designs, but, ultimately, the non-profit organization wants to transform the inner hearts of people by genuinely caring for their souls.
A Japanese-American soldier who single-handedly stormed machine gun nests in World War II clearing the way for an entire battalion to escape was awarded the military's second highest honor yesterday, the Distinguished Service Award.
In a country that prizes physical perfection, Korean Pastor Lee Jong-rak, his eyes opened after caring for his own disabled son, has been taking in unwanted infants, who if not for the drop box in the front of his building would be left in the street. To Pastor Lee Jong-rak, babies with Down syndrome or cerebral palsy are all perfect and they have found a home here.
After being fortunate enough to receive a scholarship that allowed him to get a college education, Gilbert Cisneros said he and his wife are donating some of their lottery millions to give college scholarships to Latino students in Pico Rivera who need them.
In the largely improvised scramble to set up an alternative to leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime, the Libyan rebels are leaning heavily on Ali Tarhouni, a University of Washington economics professor who abruptly left his family and students to join an uncertain revolution. As finance minister, he even jumped on a fishing boat recently to personally deliver salary money to the besieged city of Misrata in the Gadhafi-controlled west.
In one of Chicago's most dangerous neighborhoods, one grandmother has opened her door and invited gang members to come inside. She hoped that by providing them with support and a place to go, she would ensure that her own daughter and other kids would be safe and able to focus on their future instead of gangs.
On the 17th anniversary marking the start of the Rwandan genocide, comes the story of Carl Wilkens -- the only American to stay in the country, remaining behind to protect Tutsi friends.