we hope that some of these stories have inspired you to get involved and do your part because you, too, can be somebody s hero. thank you and good night. [ cheers and applause ] what s it like being billie jean king? i have no idea. i think since i was young, i mean i told my mother at 7, mommy, mommy, i m going to do something great with my life. i know it. i can feel i it. being billie jean king means knknowing from the beginning sh was destined for greatness. i knew the first t time i we off to getet free inststructionh in lonong beach, i i knew at t d of thahat session n i wanted t the numbmber one tenennis playe the worlrld. h how old werere you? i was 1 11. that w was only ththe second t picked up a racket. she quickly fell in love with the sport but also quickly noticed deep inequities in tennis that reflected the same about ththe world. at t 12, i was s playing ata los angegeles tennisis club. all the big tournamements were therere. i i was sittining i
sandwich. he tore off a corner of it, a piece of bread. he ate it, and he gave the rest to his dog. they ve taught me a lot too. i ll close by saying this. an act of kindness can change your day. change someone s day. an act or gesture of kindness can change somebody s life. thank you. [ applause ] what a night. we want to thank everybody for joining us. thank you, laura. oh, my goodness. thank you for holding my hand. that was beautiful. can you imagine the level of generosity to say give back immediately? this tells you why we do this. thank you so much. you can support all of our honorees right now by going to cnnheroes.com and click donate. each donate will be met dollar for dollar. if you know someone as amazing as tonight s honorees, you can nominate them to be a cnn hero in 2024 because officially, anderson, nominations are now open. we hope that some of these stories have inspired you to get involved and do your part because you, too, can be somebody s hero. t