Filipino named CNN Heroes 2009

Efren Peñaflorida, who started a "pushcart classroom" in the Philippines to bring education to poor children as an alternative to gang membership, has been named the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year.



The gala event, taped before an audience of 3,000 at the Kodak Theatre, premieres on Thanksgiving, November 26, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the global networks of CNN.



Peñaflorida, who will receive $100,000 to continue his work with the Dynamic Teen Company, was selected after seven weeks of online voting at CNN.com. More than 2.75 million votes were cast.

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Efren Peñaflorida is one of the Top Ten at the CNN Heroes

• Efren Peñaflorida was bullied by gangs in high school in the Philippines
  
• Now his Dynamic Teen Company offers an alternative to gangs through education
  
• Since 1997, some 10,000 members have taught more than 1,500 children in slums

For the past 12 years, Peñaflorida and his team of teen volunteers have taught basic reading and writing to children living on the streets. Their main tool: A pushcart classroom.

He created the Dynamic Teen Company to offer his classmates an outlet to lift up themselves and their community. For Peñaflorida, that meant returning to the slums of his childhood to give kids the education he felt they deserved.

"They need education to be successful in life. It's just giving them what others gave to me," he says.

Today, children ranging from ages 2 to 14 flock to the pushcart every Saturday to learn reading, writing, arithmetic and English from Peñaflorida and his trained teen volunteers.

Read His Full Story Here and to Vote Click Here


Voting continues until Thursday, November 19, 2009 (6 a.m. ET). There is no limit on the number of times you may vote for the Hero of the Year.