CNN Hero for the week – Jeff Parness

Our CNN Hero for this week is Jeff Parness.  Like many New Yorkers, Jeff Parness was changed by 9/11. He lost a good friend when the Twin Towers fell, but was also deeply moved by the support that the city received from across the country in the days after the attack.  In 2004, he established New York Says Thank You, a nonprofit that sends volunteers from New York City to rebuild other disaster-stricken communities in the U.S. every September.    Now, volunteers from those towns often join Jeff in continuing to ‘pay it forward’ on subsequent projects which, to date, have involved more than 7,000 people nationwide.