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The 2019 CNN Hero of the Year Freweini Mebrahtu poses with her award after the show. Mebrahtu was honored for her incredible work to remove the cultural stigma around periods in parts of the developing world. She designed and patented a reusable menstrual pad in 2005, and she and her team produce 750,000 reusable pads a year at her factory in Ethiopia. Nearly 800,000 girls and women have benefited from her work. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
From left, the Top 10 2019 CNN Heroes Woody Faircloth, Mark Meyers, Richard Miles, Roger Montoya, Afroz Shah, Freweini Mebrahtu, Najah Bazzy, Zach Wigal, Mary Robinson, and Staci Alonso pose onstage at American Museum of Natural History on Sunday, December 8. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
2019 Top 10 CNN Hero Mark Meyers gave up his career to start the largest sanctuary for neglected and abused donkeys. Today, his nonprofit Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue has rescued 13,000 animals to date. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
Actress Alfre Woodard introduces 2019 Top 10 CNN Hero Richard Miles. Miles spent 15 years in a Texas prison after being falsly accused. His Dallas nonprofit, Miles of Freedom, aims to help people transition and stay out of prison. Miles of Freedom assists individuals returning home from prison by helping them obtain identification, enroll in college and secure housing, as well as computer and career training, financial literacy programs and job placement. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
2019 Top 10 CNN Hero Freweini Mebrahtu holds up her award onstage. Mebrahtu teamed up with the nonprofit, Dignity Period, to end the stigma around the issue by speaking at schools and teaching girls and boys that menstruation is natural, not shameful. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
2019 Top 10 CNN Hero Mary Robinson accepts her award onstage. Robinson founded the nonprofit Imagine, A Center for Coping with Loss to create what she didn't have after her father died when she was 14 -- a place to grieve. At her center in Mountainside, New Jersey, children learn how to deal with their grief with other children who have lost a parent, brother or sister. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Host Kelly Ripa presents 2019 Young Wonder Jahkil Jackson with his award onstage. When Jackson was just 8 years old, he started Project I Am. He and his nonprofit create and distribute bags filled with hygiene products and other necessary items to help people in their daily lives. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
2019 Top 10 CNN Hero Staci Alonso accepts her award onstage. Alonso opened Noah's Animal House, a full-service pet shelter located right on the grounds of a domestic violence shelter in Las Vegas in 2007. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Anderson Cooper's dog Lilly and Kelly Ripa's dog Chewy appear onstage during CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Hero Roger Montoya speaks onstage after accepting his award. Montoya brings the healing power of the arts to local children in northern New Mexico, a center of the opioid epidemic with one of the highest drug overdose death rates in the country. His nonprofit, Moving Arts Española has provided arts classes, free meals, tutoring and support to more than 5,000 children and youth since 2008. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Top 10 CNN Hero Najah Bazzy embraces host Kelly Ripa backstage after accepting her award. Bazzy runs Zaman International, a nonprofit that now supports impoverished women and children of all backgrounds in the Detroit area. Today, Zaman runs a 40,000-square-foot facility in the Detroit suburb of Inkster, and the group has helped provide more than 250,000 people with food, clothes and furniture free of charge. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Hero Zach Wigal speaks onstage at the 2019 CNN Heroes Awards. Wigal is the founder of Gamers Outreach, a nonprofit that makes sure that kids who can't leave their hospital rooms during long-term medical treatment can play video games while they recuperate. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
2019 Top 10 CNN Hero Afroz Shah smiles as he accepts his award. Shah began picking up trash from Mumbai's Versova Beach every Sunday morning with a neighbor in October 2015. By October 2018, Versova Beach was finally clean and Shah's cleanups expanded to another beach and other regions of India. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Woody Faircloth accepts his award onstage. Faircloth was honored by actress Kathy Bates and actor Paul Walter Hauser from the upcoming film "Richard Jewell." Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
From left, the 2019 Top 10 CNN Heroes Woody Faircloth, Afroz Shah, Richard Miles, Freweini Mebrahtu, Mary Robinson, Zach Wigal, Najah Bazzy, Mark Meyers, Staci Alonso, and Roger Montoya arrive on the red carpet at the American Museum of Natural History on Sunday, December 8. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
Hosts Kelly Ripa and Anderson Cooper laugh with the 2019 Top 10 CNN Heroes on the red carpet prior to CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Brooklyn Prince blows a kiss on the red carpet. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
CNN anchors John Berman and Alisyn Camerota pose for photographers. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Actress Alfre Woodard arrives for CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute at the American Museum of Natural History. Woodard is a presenter at the event. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
From left, the 2019 Young Wonders, Bradley Ferguson, Jemima Browning, Jahkil Jackson and Grace Callwood walk the red carpet. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
Actor Anupam Kher snaps a photo on his cell phone as he walks the red carpet. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
'Stranger Things' actor Caleb Mclaughlin arrives on the red carpet. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Katherine McNamara attends CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute at the American Museum of Natural History. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Actress Kathy Bates attends CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute at the American Museum of Natural History on Sunday, December 8. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Student athlete Nathan Bain and a guest pose on the red carpet at the American Museum of Natural History on Sunday, December 8. Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Actress Julia Stiles arrives on the red carpet. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
