| Dr. Carnell Cooper, a Baltimore trauma surgeon, treats | | | | feeding the needy every day from his pickup truck |
| young black men who’ve been shot, stabbed or | | | | parked in Jackson Heights, Queens. What started as |
| beaten. When a former patient was readmitted with a | | | | bag lunches made with leftovers from local businesses |
| fatal gunshot wound, Dr. Cooper started the Violence | | | | 3 nights a week turned into his nonprofit “An |
| Intervention Program at the University of Maryland | | | | Angel in Queens”, which serves as many as 140 |
| Medical Center. VIP provides programs like substance | | | | home-cooked meals a night. Saturday Jorge brings |
| abuse counseling, job skills training and peer group | | | | breakfast. Sunday he brings ham-and-cheese |
| support to nearly 500 trauma victims. A 2006 study | | | | sandwiches. The approximately $425 per week for |
| showed that participants in VIP were six times less | | | | food and gas is paid for with family savings and |
| likely to be readmitted with violent injuries and 3 times | | | | Jorge’s $700 paycheck, but using new math Jorge |
| less likely to be arrested for violent crimes. Dr. Cooper | | | | is a rich man. |
| is attempting to save the lives he’s already saved. | | | | Then there’s Shigeo Tokuda. Many in Japan |
| A Quaker Parrot in Denver, Colorado saved a little | | | | consider this 75-year-old, former travel agent a |
| girl’s life. While Megan, the babysitter, was in the | | | | “hero”. He’s Japan’s oldest pornographic |
| bathroom she heard her parrot Willie flapping his wings | | | | movie star. Using a stage name, he’s been a |
| and repeatedly screeching “mama baby”. When | | | | pornographic actor since he was 59, has been in more |
| Megan went to see what was wrong, she found | | | | than 200 pornographic movies and has performed |
| 2-year-old Hannah turning blue choking on a snack, but | | | | with women ranging in age from their 20s to his age. |
| was able to rescue her with the Heimlich maneuver. | | | | Twenty percent of Japan’s citizens are over 65; |
| Later Willie wouldn’t talk to reporters; but Megan | | | | and according to a social welfare professor at Den-en |
| says his vocabulary includes “I love you”, | | | | Chofu University, “Japanese elderly are rejecting |
| “step up” and some words that aren’t so | | | | the idea that growing old means slowing down”. No |
| nice. Hero would be a nice word for Willie to learn. | | | | wonder Tokuda plans to keep it up until he’s at |
| Jorge Munoz is a hero. Since the summer of 2004 the | | | | least 80. |
| 44-year-old school bus driver and his family have been | | | | |