A Colombian school-bus driver, living in New York City, has been chosen from 9,000 potential candidates as one of ten CNN’s Heroes.
Jorge Muñoz, who immigrated to the United States in the eighties, was chosen as one of CNN’s ten Heros for his tireless, voluntary job giving out free hot meals to hungry, poor New Yorkers, from his van under a subway station in Queens.
According to the article by CNN, Muñoz wakes up at 5AM every morning and works a full day driving his school bus. When he arrives home at 5PM, he and his mother prepare great drums of food and spend the evening under the subway station, providing free dinners for the many enemployed, impoverished people in the area, many of whom are immigrants like Muñoz.
The bus driver told CNN “when I see these guys on the street, its like me 20-something years ago … I’ll help anyone who needs to eat. Just line up.”
News station W Radio stated that the idea for the soup kitchen was conceived four years ago when Muñoz claimed he witnessed a supermarket throwing away food and said to himself “there are so many people without anything to eat … why dump food when they could give it to me.” Muñoz estimated that he has now served over 70,000 meals.
On hearing that he had been nominated, Muñoz said “It was incredible … an unforgettable surprise for me and my family.”
The CNN Hero competition involved the public voting for people they believed worked hardest for others, voluntarily. The ten finalists will receive $US 25,000 to give to a charitable foundation.
The winner of the Hero of the Year will be announced in the coming months. To vote for Jorge Muñoz visit : www.cnn.com / heroes