Two UNC students have emerged ahead of a year’s worth of fellow “heroes” to be named finalists for People Magazine’s annual Readers’ Choice Hero award.
Krissi Fajgenbaum, a freshman, and Gabriel Whaley, a senior, both founded nonprofit organizations that caught the magazine’s attention and put them in the running for a $10,000 prize to use for their respective causes.
Of the nine finalists from across the nation, Fajgenbaum and Whaley are the only college students.
“I was very surprised to hear that there were two students from UNC,” Whaley said. The nine finalists also range in age from 7 to 68 years old.
Fajgenbaum founded Teens 2 Teens, an organization that provides like-new clothing to high school students in two of North Carolina’s poorest areas — Graham and Swain counties.
Whaley’s Kicking4Hunger provides free soccer camps to children where he collects food to combat local hunger.
Voting is conducted online, and closes Oct. 13.
Teens 2 Teens
A documentary about poverty in Appalachia caught Fajgenbaum’s eye when she was in high school, and she was determined to help.