Efren Peñaflorida (CNN Hero of the Year for 2009)

Efren Peñaflorida was born the middle child of Efren Peñaflorida Sr., a tricycle driver, and Lucila Geronimo, a housewife. The family eventually started a small noodle business to make ends meet. Efren grew up in an urban slum near an open dump site in Cavite City, Cavite, playing amongst garbage and swimming in polluted waters. He would often fall victim to neighborhood bullying. Peñaflorida was one of World Vision's sponsored-children during his early childhood.

In 1997, at 16 years old, Peñaflorida started a youth group in his high school aimed at diverting students attention away from street gangs, and towards community activism and personal development. Joined by other classmates, they named the group "Dynamic Teen Company".

Dynamic Teen Company started as a friendship club of around 20 members, with an aim of providing youth awareness projects, talent and self-development activities, and community services. They partnered with Club 8586, another community service organization operating in the area.

They eventually pioneered the idea of the "pushcart classroom", wherein pushcarts were stocked with school materials such as books, pens, tables, and chairs, and then used on Saturdays to recreate school settings in unconventional locations such as the cemetery or trash dump.

Peñaflorida was nominated for CNN Heroes by Club 8586, the youth group that financed his elementary and high school education. After sifting through 9,000 nominees from over 100 countries, CNN's Blue Ribbon Panel selected Peñaflorida as one of its 28 heroes of 2009. On October 1, Peñaflorida was named among the ten finalists. On November 22, he was named CNN Hero of the Year for 2009. The award includes $100,000 cash to continue his work with Dynamic Teen Company.