The JTA reports:
Dr. Rick Hodes will be featured on "CNN Heroes."
Hodes, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee's medical director in Ethiopia, is a finalist in the "Championing Children" category of the program, which highlights individuals for their extraordinary achievements.
CNN will feature a three-minute segment on Hodes at 9 p.m. (Eastern time) Thursday. He also will be featured at www.cnn.com/Heroes along with a link to a special page on www.jdc.com.
Hodes' work over the past two decades on behalf of the JDC -- providing emergency medical assistance and special nutritional programs to the Falash Mura population while it awaits processing to determine who is eligible to immigrate to Israel -- has reduced the mortality rate to less than half that of the general Ethiopian populace.
Category winners will be announced on "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," a live CNN event on Dec. 6 featuring a video montage of all category finalists, musical performances and presentations by special guests.
FailedMessiah readers, along with readers of DovBear and Jeanette Friedman's blog, raised more than $1800 to help Dr. Hodes' work.