Editor's note: The Top 10 Heroes of 2010 will be honored Thanksgiving night, November 25, at "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute." The show starts at 8 ET. See the top 10 Heroes
(CNN) -- It's becoming a holiday tradition.
Every Thanksgiving night, CNN turns the tables on the conventional awards show, bringing out Hollywood's brightest stars to honor everyday people who are changing the world.
The 10 individuals recognized at "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" have gone to great lengths to serve others or contribute to the greater good in some way. Initially selected as CNN Heroes from more than 10,000 nominations received online, they were chosen to be in the Top 10 by an independent Blue Ribbon Panel of humanitarians.
Each of the Top 10 CNN Heroes will be awarded $25,000. And depending on the results of an online vote, one of them will be named CNN Hero of the Year and receive an additional $100,000.
As we prepare to honor this year's Top 10, we look back at how the experience has affected some of our past Heroes and helped them make an even greater difference in the lives of others.
• For school-bus driver Jorge Munoz, being honored in 2009 brought much-needed support for his family's food program, which has been feeding the hungry in Queens, New York, for the past six years.
Munoz received e-mails, letters and contributions from around the globe. But the donation he remembers most is the $25 he received from an 8-year-old girl in Texas. She sold brownies and lemonade to raise money in his work.
This summer, Munoz was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second-highest civilian honor in the United States. He is now involved in starting similar meal programs in New Jersey; Long Island, New York; and Miami, Florida.
• Many CNN Heroes were able to expand their reach as a result of their exposure in the top 10. One example is Doc Hendley and his Wine to Water program.
A former bartender from North Carolina, Hendley works to bring clean water -- via water filters and wells -- to people around the world. Since being honored in 2009, Hendley has started projects in three new countries: Sri Lanka, South Africa and Haiti, where he has opened a water filter factory.
"The CNN Heroes program totally just blew the roof off what we were able to do beforehand," Hendley said. "It's that kind of exposure, that kind of storytelling, that CNN was able to do for us that just took us to another level."
• Anne Mahlum was honored in 2008 for her Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based program, Back On My Feet, which seeks to empower homeless people through running.
Since then, her group has expanded to four more cities, and it plans to add five more in 2011. To date, Mahlum has helped close to 450 individuals find a better road in life.
While some Top 10 Heroes have been able to expand their programs to new places, others have chosen to broaden the services they provide.
• Veteran Roy Foster, who started a transitional living facility for his homeless brothers-in-arms, was able to expand his program to female veterans and their families after his recognition in 2009. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, it's only the second housing facility of its kind in the country.
"CNN put us where I could share the full dream with people, and (it) plays a pivotal role in actually being able to bring that dream forward," Foster said.
• Marie Da Silva is a one-time nanny who started a school for AIDS orphans in her native Malawi. But while she was honored as a CNN Hero in 2008, primary and secondary students at the school were forced to share crowded classrooms.
As a result of her coverage on CNN, Da Silva was able to build a secondary school. And with additional support, her students' grades rose dramatically. Today, 14 of her students are in college.
Da Silva's own life was also transformed -- with the donations she received from CNN viewers, she was able to leave her job as a nanny and devote herself full time to her foundation.
• Perhaps no Top 10 Hero has experienced more change than 2009 Hero of the Year Efren Peñaflorida, who was honored for his mobile "pushcart classrooms" that have brought education to more than 1,800 poor children in the Philippines.
CNN's recognition has helped his nonprofit group build an education center, and his pushcart classroom model has been replicated across the country.
But Penaflorida's influence is felt far beyond the slums he serves. He has become a full-fledged celebrity in the Philippines, where he can be seen on television every week conducting his own search for heroes. His story has also inspired documentaries and TV movies in several other countries.
Penaflorida is among the many past Top 10 Heroes who are coming to Los Angeles this year to attend "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute." He said he has avidly followed this year's group of Heroes.
"They are all awesome ... I personally salute them all," he said.
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