Shirley Raines is the 2021 CNN Hero of the Year.
Known for bringing beauty and hope to the men and women living in the Skid Row neighborhood of Los Angeles, Raines thanked her children and remembered her late son, who inspired her work.
"This surely hasn't been easy. I stand before you a very broken woman," an emotional Raines said. "I am a mother without a son and there are a lot of people in the streets without a mother -- and I feel like it's a fair exchange."
Raines was presented with the CNN Hero of the Year award Sunday night by hosts Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa.
This year's Top 10 CNN Heroes finalists
-Jenifer Colpas
Co-founded Tierra Grata in 2015, a non-profit that provides access to clean water, solar-powered lights and electricity along with eco-toilets and showers for remote rural communities throughout Colombia.
-Lynda Doughty
Lynda Doughty's nonprofit, Marine Mammals of Maine, has provided response efforts, assistance and medical care for more than 3,000 marine animals.
-David Flink
David Flink's Eye to Eye program pairs middle school children who have a learning difference with a college or high school mentor who also has a learning difference.
Dr. Patricia Gordon
She operates CureCervicalCancer, which delivers screening, training and supplies to clinics around the world. The organization has since worked in 10 countries, including China, Haiti, Guatemala, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Vietnam.
Hector Guadalupe
Hector Guadalupe's non-profit, A Second U Foundation, helps formerly incarcerated men and women get certified as personal trainers and build careers in the fitness industry so they can support their families.
Michele Neff Hernandez
Michele Neff Hernandez created Soaring Spirits in 2008. Her nonprofit connects widows and widowers, allowing them to heal in a community that understands the pain of losing a partner.
Zannah Mustapha
He has devoted his life to providing hope and peace for children in northern Nigeria caught in the epicenter of the Boko Haram insurgency. He and his staff educate more than 2,000 students from both sides of the conflict at the Future Prowess Islamic Foundation School.
Shirley Raines
Raines and her organization, Beauty 2 the Streetz, have been a mainstay on Los Angeles' Skid Row, providing food, clothing, hair and makeup services -- and most recently health and hygiene items -- to thousands of people.
Dr. Ala Stanford
Her group, the Black Doctors Covid-19 Consortium, has brought testing and vaccines to more than 75,000 residents of Philadelphia's minority neighborhoods.
Made Janur Yasa
Made Janur Yasa's non-profit, Plastic Exchange, allows local villagers in Bali, Indonesia, to exchange plastic trash for rice, a main food staple. This barter system benefits the environment and empowers the local people.
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