My CNN Hero

I am very proud of Efren Peñaflorida, a Filipino 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. Efren came from a poor family and was bullied by gang members in his teenage years. Efren said he felt the social discrimination and was afraid to walk down the street.

Another Filipino brought the Philippines honor after Manny Pacquiao beat Cotto just less than two weeks ago.

Efren Peñaflorida, remembers standing up to a gang leader, refusing to join his gang. That confrontation proved fateful. At 16, he and his friends “got the idea to divert teenagers like us to be productive,” he says.

He created the Dynamic Teen Company, a pushcart classroom 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. Since 1997, an estimated 10,000 members have helped teach more than 1,500 children living in the slums. The organization supports its efforts by making and selling crafts and collecting items to recycle.

Peñaflorida, who will receive $100,000 for winning the 2009 CNN Hero of the year says he will 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.

“Our planet is filled with heroes, young and old, rich and poor, man, woman of different colors, shapes and sizes. We are one great tapestry,” Peñaflorida said upon accepting the honor. “Each person has a hidden hero within, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need.

Truly Efren deserves the honor and he already said in an interview that the 10 percent from his prize money will go to a church charity and the remaining 90 percent will be for his Dynamic Teen Company, to continue helping hundreds, if not thousands of children for their education.