Voting Winding Down For Pittsburgh CNN Hero Of The Year Candidate

PITTSBURGH, PA - Voting has entered its final week for CNN’s Hero of the Year Award, and Samir Lakhani of Squirrel Hill will learn on Dec. 17 whether gets that title. Already named a 2017 Top 10 Hero, Lakhani is vying to the top prize and the $100,000 that goes with it to bolster his nonprofit’s operation.

Lakhani, 25, of Squirrel Hill, is executive director of the Eco-Soap Bank, which recycles discarded hotel soap bars and distributes them to people in need in Cambodia. The Eco-Soap Bank sanitizes the old sao and then either re-molds it into new bars or melts it into liquid soap.

The company has aided more than 650,000 Cambodians, according to CNN. The nonprofit employs about 75 people, primarily local Cambodians in four recycling centers across the country.

Viewers across the country will select the Hero of the Year by voting for the Top 10 hero who most inspires them. Supporters can vote daily at CNNHeroes.com by logging in via email or Facebook, as well as on Facebook Messenger by messaging VOTE to the CNN Heroes Facebook page.

Viewers can vote up to 10 times a day, per method.

Photo via Eco-Soap Bank.