Celebrating the 15th Annual ‘CNN Heroes: All-Star Tribute’
The event honored CNN’s Top 10 Heroes and CNN’s Hero of the Year, showcasing remarkable individuals dedicated to making a difference. Below are some of the highlights from the ceremony.
2021 CNN Hero Shirley Raines reacts as she is named the 2021 Hero of the Year. For the past six years, Raines and her organization, Beauty 2 the Streetz, have been a mainstay on Skid Row, providing food, clothing, hair and makeup services — and most recently health and hygiene items — to thousands of people. Mike Coppola/Getty ImagesHarold O’Neal, on piano, and Aloe Blacc perform onstage ahead of the CNN Hero of the Year announcement.
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2021 CNN Hero Dr. Patricia Gordon speaks onstage during The 15th Annual ‘CNN Heroes: All-Star Tribute.’ Dr. Gordon is a radiation oncologist and the founder of the non-profit CureCervicalCancer. After 27 years, Gordon left her private practice in 2014 to devote all her time to CureCervicalCancer. She takes no salary. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images2021 CNN Hero Zannah Mustapha accepts his award onstage. For more than a decade, Mustapha has devoted his life to providing hope and peace for children caught in the epicenter of the Boko Haram insurgency. Today, Mustapha and his staff educate more than 2,000 students from both sides of the conflict at the Future Prowess Islamic Foundation School in Maiduguri.
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2021 CNN Hero David Flink accepts his award onstage from Kelly Ripa. Since 1998, Eye to Eye has grown into a nationwide non-profit that pairs middle school children who have a learning difference with a college or high school mentor who also has a learning difference. Mike Coppola/Getty ImagesGymnast Maggie Nichols is recognized during The 15th Annual ‘CNN Heroes: All-Star Tribute.’ Nichols and other elite gymnasts testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September during a hearing about the FBI’s handling of the sex abuse investigation of former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. Michael Loccisano/Getty ImagesActress and singer Lynda Carter introduces 2021 CNN Hero Michele Neff Hernandez. Her non-profit, Soaring Spirits, connects widows and widowers, allowing them to heal in a community that understands the pain of losing a partner. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images2021 CNN Hero Dr. Ala Stanford speaks onstage after accepting her award. Since April 2020, Dr. Ala Stanford’s group, the Black Doctors Covid-19 Consortium, has brought testing and vaccines to more than 75,000 residents of Philadelphia’s minority neighborhoods. Michael Loccisano/Getty ImagesIn a pre-taped recording, Dr. Anthony Fauci introduces 2021 CNN Hero Dr. Ala Stanford during The 15th Annual ‘CNN Heroes: All-Star Tribute.’
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2021 Young Wonder Chelsea Phaire and Josh Groban pose backstage. On her 10th birthday, Chelsea asked her family and friends to give her art supplies to donate instead of presents. Her vision was to help children cope by expressing their feelings through art. That was the start of this 12-year-old’s non-profit Chelsea’s Charity. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
2021 CNN Hero Jenifer Colpas accepts her award from presenter Rachel Zegler. In 2015, with the help of friends, Colpas co-founded Tierra Grata. Today, the non-profit provides access to clean water, solar-powered lights and electricity along with eco-toilets and showers for remote rural communities throughout Colombia.
2021 CNN Hero Lynda Doughty accepts her award onstage. Since 2011, her nonprofit, Marine Mammals of Maine, has provided response efforts, assistance and medical care for more than 3,000 marine animals. Mike Coppola/Getty ImagesAudience members give a standing ovation to January 6th officers Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, Officer Daniel Hodges, Officer Michael Fanone, and Pfc. Harry Dunn, as they are recognized for their heroism. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
