CNN) -- Chad Pregracke, an Illinois
man who has dedicated his life to cleaning the Mississippi River and other U.S. waterways, is the 2013 CNN Hero of the Year.
Pregracke organizes community cleanups across the country through
his nonprofit, Living Lands & Waters.
About 70,000 volunteers have pitched in, helping Pregracke collect more than 7
million pounds of trash in the past 15 years.
"The garbage got into the water one piece at a time,"
Pregracke said earlier this year. "And that's the only way it's going to
come out."
Pregracke was recognized during Sunday night's airing of "CNN
Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" along with the rest of this year's top 10 CNN
Heroes -- everyday people doing extraordinary things to help change the world.
He was chosen as Hero of the Year through a five-week public vote on CNN.com.
"I'll just keep on cleaning up America's rivers and loving
every minute of it," said Pregracke when he accepted the award.
For being named CNN Hero of the Year, Pregracke receives $250,000
to continue his work. That is in addition to the $50,000 that each Hero
receives for making the top 10.
During the show, Pregracke pledged to spread some of his Hero of
the Year money to the rest of the top 10 Heroes: "I've met so many great
people today, the other Heroes, and I'm really moved by all their stories and
all the things they do around the world. ... I'm going to give 10 grand to each
of them, because they're awesome."
Pregracke, 38, grew up in East Moline, Illinois, where the
Mississippi River was in his backyard. As a teenager, he worked as a commercial
shell diver and began to notice the heaps of debris in the fabled waterway,
which supplies drinking water to 18 million people in more than 50 U.S. cities.
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