[ dramatic music ]ing ] ahhhh ahhhh elliott. You came back they are breaking down barriers, creating inclusive opportunities for young people with disabilities, giving out necessities to help People Living on the streets, providing meals and camaraderie for veterans getting back on their feet, bringing happiness to kids living in difficult circumstances. Already these young people are making a difference. Oh, yeah. And are reminders that youre never too young to change the world. Tonight were honored to share their uplifting stories. This is young wonders a cnn heroes special. Hey, im anderson cooper. Life is full of ups and downs. We all know this. But there are some days when the problems of the world just feel relentless, so much so that the prospect of hiding under a rock or going off the grid might seem enticing. But tonight youre going to meet the next generation who offers a beacon of hope and the promise of a better tomorrow. These young people prove there are always solutions and kindness and empathy know no limits. Were thrilled to introduce you to this years young wonders, four ordinary kids who found extraordinary ways to bring more decency and light into this world. Despite their young age, they are selfless leaders who see people in need and help them, simple as that. As you meet these young wonders, i hope youll be inspired by their efforts. These remarkable kids will also make an appearance at cnn heroes an allstar tribute this sunday night. Kelly ripa will again join me as cohost as we honor this years top ten cnn heroes live from the American Museum of Natural History in new york. Now, to kick things off, we travel across the pond to northern england. 18yearold Jemima Browning has been a swimmer all her life. She shares a love of the sport with her siblings, especially her brother will, who has down syndrome. When jemima realized that young people like will didnt have the same opportunity to reach their goals, well, she dove in to change all of that. Jemima created the tadcaster stingrays. Its an inclusive swim squad for kids with intellectual and developmental disabilities. They reap the lifelong benefits of being part of a team. Shes showing her swimmers that their worth included, they matter, and they can go the distance. Ive always been a very sports person. My main sport was swimming, and it was a massive part of my life. I really enjoy the feeling of being able to push myself further than i ever thought i would be able to, get my head down and just forget about whatever worries are going on outside. Will is my brother. He is also my absolute best friend in the world. He has down syndrome. Will has always been will. Ive never looked to him and seen him any different. Swimming was one of those things that we found our whole family could get involved with, and we all went through our swimming lessons together, and we all achieved in our ways through swimming. It hit really, really hard that will wasnt afforded the same opportunities that my sister and i were. Hes not got a lack of aspiration. Hes got a lack of opportunity. It almost felt like society was telling us that he shouldnt swim, and were not going to provide for him. I decided that if the world wasnt going to create opportunities for people like my brother, then i was the one to do something. Four 100s, so four lengths, four times. Its a swim squad for young people with learning and physical disabilities from the age of 11 to 18. It affords them the equal opportunities that mainstream swimmers get to compete and to train with their friends. Freya, youre on the 30. The sessions themselves just create a really safe environment for the swimmers where they can just be themselves and people dont say, theyve got a disability, therefore they cant do this. We look at the person first. Stingray sessions run much like a mainstream squad session. I coach the sessions, and i have quite High Expectations of my swimmers. I make reasonable adjustments. We might not do both 100s im, because i want to get that easy part in. But i dont allow them to mess around. I make sure theyre pushing themselves. I make sure theyre progressing in their swimming and make sure that theyre seeing the achievements themselves because i think thats really important. Freya is a great kid. She is happy. I defy anyone to be around her and not smile. Good, freya. Well done. Can i have two more of your swim, and then well go into our kick, okay . If she has something in mind, she will achieve it. It might take her a little bit longer, but shell get there. Freya has always wanted to be a part of afterschool activity groups. As she got older, it was becoming increasingly difficult for mainstream groups to include freya. I started to see that she was isolating herself, and she could see that she wasnt being included. And so she was spending more time in her bedroom. Immediately alarm bells start to ring, and you think, we really, really need to find something for freya to become part of life. But theres very little out there. Can i see some super good swimming . Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. There we go. When freya first joined stingrays, she could speak approximately ten words. Thats not because she didnt know how to speak the words. It was because she was too scared because people hadnt taken the time to listen to her. Big arms when she came to stingrays, shes developed that much that she will talk to anyone and everyone. When i see freya arrive at stingrays sorry it made your heart burst. Keep going its really hard to see someone that you love isolating themselves. So when you have the reverse of that, it really makes it a big deal. Come on out, freya. It affects mom, dad, brother, grandparents. They join in in that happiness. I did that for you. Stingrays gave freya the confidence to go out there and engage with people. Freya works in our Village Football Club cafe, and she does teas and coffees. We go out sometimes, and people say, hi, freya. Weve got no idea who they are. They know her more than they do us now and its because she engages with people. Ive seen an incredible amount of changes in all of my swimmers. The swimmer skills themselves have improved massively. Theyre getting so much faster, so much stronger. I think more than that, ive seen the change in the swimmers friendship. Listen up, will, freya, andrew and cassie, team two. Theyve all become such a closeknit group. They make sure that they cheer on each other even if theyre competing against each other. Theyll still support each other. Yeah they can really set an example for what the rest of the world should be doing. Will, come on. We currently have two swimmers, will and george, that train twice a week with the mainstream squad and once a week with the stingrays. Push, lift, push, lift. The way that they have been accepted into the mainstream sport is far beyond anything that i could have imagined. My dad came onto the balcony the other day, was watching the swimmers expecting to be able to pick out will and george immediately because of the differences that there were. He couldnt tell who was will and who was george and who was any other swimmer because they just fit in so well. Theres no isolation there. I have always found it difficult thinking about will in the future. Three, four, five. But now i feel very optimistic about it. To me, he should be able to live a happy and fulfilling life just like everybody else, and i hope that the small part that ive been able to play in creating an opportunity for him will continue and he feels like hes worthwhile and hes happy. I dont think jemima realizes the enormously positive impact she has on other people and their families. These are from triathlons. When freya was younger, we were told she wouldnt walk, she wouldnt talk. We were given short life expectancies. So to look at her now as a Special Olympics athlete, winning gold medals, being an ambassador for a triathlon lets hear it for freya. I dont know what freyas life would be like if she hasnt found stingrays. It was stingrays that brought freya back to life. Fantastic. Double high five. I feel privileged to have been part of that and to be able to see her change into this beautiful young woman that she now is. Come on, freya i think that i will always work towards inclusion. I want my swimmers to take away from stingrays that they are valuable, they are incredible young people that can make a massive difference in other peoples lives. They can absolutely show other people that just because you have a disability doesnt mean you cant do exactly the same as everybody else. Stingrays jemima hopes the swim squad serves as a springboard for a more inclusive future. Coming up, meet a 12yearold who is helping the homeless one blessing bag at a time. Announcer young wonders a cnn heroes special is brought to you by cisco, the bridge to possible. Tune in to cnn heroes, an allstar tribute sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. And if i didnt find a donor, i probably wouldnt be here right now. Be the match uses the power of the Cisco Network to match donors with patients faster than ever, saving lives like maxs. Me and dylan are dna twins. Dylans like my brother. Cisco. The bridge to possible. [narrator] forget about vacuuming for up to a month. Shark iq robot deepcleans and empties itself into a base you can empty once a month. And unlike standard robots that bounce around, it cleans row by row. If its not a shark, its just a robot. Ladies and gentlemen mini is a different kind of car. For a different kind of drive. Ladies and gentlemen for the drive to create a new kind of family car, that became a new kind of race car. For the drive to rebel, zag. For the drive thats inside you. And inside us. Thats the drive under the hood of every mini. Because every mini is. For the drive. This inot this john smith smith. Or this john smith. Or any of the other hundreds of john smiths that are humana Medicare Advantage members. No, its this john smith, who met with humana to create a Personalized Care plan. At humana, we have more ways to care for your health, and we find one that works just for you. No matter what your name is. Announcer young wonders a cnn heroes special is brought to you by humana. Humana, more ways to care. Welcome back. For most 12yearold boys i think its fair to say that hygiene is not on the top of the list of their priorities. I think this is pretty well documented. But ja keel jackson knows just how valuable a bar of soap or toothbrush to be to somebody. When he was 5, he accompanied his aunt and cousins to feed the homeless in chicago, and it made him profoundly sad to see how people were living on the streets. He was determined to find a way that he could help. When he was just 8 years old, he started project i am. His nonprofit has since assembled and given out more than 30,000 blessing bags as jahkil calls them, filled with Hygiene Products and other necessities for people in need. My name is jahkil jackson. I am 12 years old. I am in the seventh grade. I go home and do homework like a regular kid. My other interests are basketball, tap dance. Jahkil definitely keeps me on my toes constantly. Hes fun. Hes irritating. I got to finish making your bed up. He has a very busy schedule. He is very thoughtful. Hes going through the tween thing and having attitude at the drop of a dime. You do it. Hes highspirited, lots of energy. Jahkil is a typical 12yearold. He just happens to have an organization that he runs. Im the founder of project i am, an organization that helps the homeless in the Different Things that they need. Youre welcome. God bless. I was 5 years old and my aunt took me and my cousins to go feed the homeless, and i didnt understand why there were so many people laying out there on the streets because at 5 years old, i thought that everyone had homes. It did make me sad to see how people were living out on the streets with sleeping bags and dirt, rats all over the place. It just made me feel bad to know that others dont have the resources that they need to support themselves. So i really wanted to help. As the time went on, the next couple of years he just wouldnt let it go. Every time he would see a homeless person, he would literally tear up. When we saw this was something he was forming a passion for, we decided to try to help them figure out how he can help them at his level. So we thought of the Different Things that can help those in need on a daily basis. This is a blessing bag. In the blessing bag, we have soap, tissues, socks, hand sanitizer, different snacks, conditioner, lotion. We just added a solar light. We collect donations 11 toiletry items. We also go and purchase items when needed. Two, three. Travel size. We need granola bars. We need bandaids. We assemble the blessing bags once or twice a month. So you guys want to help out with this . We have these packing parties. You guys come right here. Today were trying to pack about 250 bags. Is everybody ready . Yes all of the friends and family and volunteers come out and help. Make sure you get two of these and Everything Else is one. We get all of these different items and then we separate them. All right. Dont mess it up. Grab this one. You got this one. Then we go and an assembly line. We keep going and going and going. Good job. How you doing, j. J. . Jahkil is an only child, but he does have a big brother, our dog j. J. Lay down. Lay down. No. Down. Down. J. J. Totally does not listen to him. Hes like the perfect big brother. Hes like, whatever, get away from me. I dont want to talk to you. Total big brother. We are family the people that help me with the organization is my dad and my mom. You got a lot of inventory where we can create 500 bags already . This is my grandmother, gigi. My grandma, shes very heavily involved. This is definitely a family affair. We kind of just all pitch in. Whats your Marketing Strategy . Jahkil, he does run the show. We kind of try to take his lead. I totally work for my son. Youre fired. Youre no longer my assistant. I get fired once a month. Im sorry for firing you. So its a lot of busting of chops that happens. I do see a lot of Homeless People around chicago. Any number is a high number. There shouldnt be any of this. It really upsets him to see people on the street. It just really does something to his soul. 11, 12. Right now were going to pass out some blessing bags. We give out the bags to the people on the streets. God bless you. It is important to me to get to hand out the bags personally. God bless you. I feel like the reward is actually getting that reaction of them receiving the bag. Thank you. And i see the smile on their faces. It gives me a smile on their face to know im helping others. Thanks. Youre welcome. Thank you, young lady. Thank you, young man. Youre welcome. I do also go to shelters to distribute the bags. Can you bring some more bags over here, mom . This is a homeless shelter that serves about 300 people. Youre welcome. God bless. We give them beds and three meals a day, but things like deodorant, soap and all that, we really go through that a lot. I always say that Hygiene Products are like gold to us because theres a continuous need, and people use it up. And thats why when jahkil comes along with his blessing bags, it fits an immediate need. And so thats what we really appreciate. You have a heart of gold, what youre doing. Dont stop. I really appreciate it. Ive been here for two months. My house caught on fire, and i feel like this gave me hope today. I know its better days coming now. I feel like somebody cared enough to bring us Something Like this. Ive sent bags across the country and around the world. We just sent 600 bags to the survivors of hurricane dorian. In total throughout the three years of doing this organization, ive given out over 30,000 blessing bags. I also present to schools about my organization. Did you know that there are over 700,000 Homeless People in the United States . I do want to encourage kids to be a part of their community and to inspire them to make a big impact. My motto is dont wait to be great, and i say that because i believe that us as young people do not have to wait until were adults to become young change agents. I remember the moment when i found out barack obama was tweeting about jahkil. It took the organization to an entirely different level. It was very cool when jahkil got a chance to meet obama by meeting a superhero. This was a great moment for me to know that president obama knows my name. It just inspired me to keep doing what i was doing. And inspiring others. I told him about my goals for the future of the organization. He said he was going to help me with it. Ill check up with him about that. The interesting thing with jahkil is that he is now a role model with other young kids across the country, across the world actually, fourth graders in switzerland, they did a bake sale to raise 400 for jahkil. Theres another group in hong kong. They were so inspired that they went out and passed out blessing bags. It was really awesome to see how my organization got all the way out there. I do think that jahkil is unstoppable. I dont even think that he realizes how much that hes unstoppable, but hes getting there. What i want people to know about Homeless People is that they are people too. I think that me giving them blessing bags gives them hope and tells them that there are people out there that actually care about them. My hopes is for them to get off the street and back on their feet. There are a lot more Homeless People that i need to help. There are millions of more to impact. I do have a lot of work to do. Jahkil is on track to surpass his goal of giving out 15,000 bags this year. Coming up, a teen from south jersey who teamed up with his community to support local veterans. Young man, youre doing a great thing, man. Thank you. Announcer young wonders a cnn heroes special is brought to you by subaru. Love, its what makes subaru subaru. Tune in to cnn heroes an allstar tribute sunday night allstar tribute sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Ndsowow. grandfather that was me, seventy years ago. vo some things are worth preserving. You can choose the National Park foundation to get two hundred and fifty dollars from subaru when you get a new subaru, like the all new outback. vo 2 get 0. 9 during the subaru share the love event. Welcome back to young wonders a cnn heroes special. Atlantic city, new jersey, is home to some of the most visited casinos and beaches in america. But when our next young wonder took a closer look beyond the