Top 5 CNN Heroes to Be Honored at the 18th Annual CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute Hosted by Anderson Cooper and Laura Coates
Global Broadcast Will Air Sunday, December 8 at 8pm ET/PT
NEW YORK, NY – (October 30, 2024) – The Peabody and Emmy® Award-winning CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute, which honors everyday people who are making extraordinary contributions to help improve the lives of others, returns on Sunday, December 8 at 8pm ET/PT. This Year’s Top 5 CNN Heroes were revealed today by CNN Anchor Anderson Cooper on CNN News Central and will be honored during the broadcast hosted by Cooper and CNN Anchor Laura Coates.
Beginning today, viewers can support the CNN Hero who inspires them the most by voting for the CNN Hero of the Year. Supporters can vote daily at CNNHeroes.com by logging in via email or Facebook. Viewers get 10 votes a day, every day through Tuesday, December 3. All 10 daily votes can be cast for one hero or divided among favorites and viewers can double their votes by sharing on social media.
The 2024 Top 5 CNN Heroes are:
- Ron Davis Alvarez, Dream Orchestra – Gothenburg, Sweden
After moving from his native Venezuela to Sweden in 2016, violinist and conductor Ron Davis Alvarez wanted to help the refugees who’d recently arrived there. Today, his Dream Orchestra gives hundreds of refugees, immigrants, and native Swedes the chance to learn an instrument, connect with others, and better their lives.
- Stephen Knight, Dogs Matter – Dallas, Texas
Stephen Knight’s organization provides foster care for pets whose owners are seeking substance abuse treatment, covering animal expenses for the foster family and providing post-release services to help human participants succeed with their sobriety.
- Payton McGriff, SHE (Style Her Empowered) – Moscow, Idaho & Nôtse, Togo
In Togo, where the cost of mandatory uniforms can keep girls out of school, Payton McGriff helped create a ‘uniform that grows’ which has become a cornerstone of a movement that educates, employs, and empowers hundreds of girls and women.
- Rachel Rutter, Project Libertad – Phoenixville, Pennsylvania
Immigration attorney Rachel Rutter and her nonprofit provide legal, social, and emotional support to help immigrant children heal from trauma and build new lives in the US.
- Yamilée Toussaint, STEM From Dance – Brooklyn, New York
Yamilée Toussaint was one of the only Black women in her engineering program at MIT. Now, she and her nonprofit are using dance to get girls of color excited about STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
Each Top 5 CNN Hero will be awarded $10,000 and the CNN Hero of the Year will receive $100,000 to continue their life-changing work.
For the third year, CNN Heroes is collaborating with the Elevate Prize Foundation, a global nonprofit on a mission to Make Good Famous, committed to bringing visibility to the work of changemakers and inspiring the world. The Elevate Prize Foundation will grant the CNN Hero of the Year an additional unrestricted grant of $100,000 and provide the remaining honorees with a generous grant of matching funds up to $50,000 each, organizational capacity-building, and resources to bring visibility to their work and maximize their impact. The Top 5 CNN Heroes will also attend the foundation’s third annual Make Good Famous Summit in Miami, Florida.
CNN has partnered with GoFundMe to enable donations to this year’s honorees and learn more about their stories. GoFundMe is the world’s largest fundraising platform that empowers people and charities to give and receive help. Supporters can make online donations to the Top 5 CNN Heroes’ nonprofit organizations directly from CNNHeroes.com.
CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute will broadcast on CNN, CNN International, CNN en Español and CNN Max on Sunday, December 8. The show will stream on CNN Max and for pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN connected TV and mobile apps beginning Monday, December 9.
CNNHeroes.com | #CNNHeroes
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