A San Diego County-based veterinarian who volunteers time, money and medication to treat the pets of homeless people was tapped as CNN’s 2023 Hero of the Year.
Dr. Kwane Stewart’s selection by online voters was announced during a live show Sunday evening from New York, broadcast on CNN.
Stewart is the founder of Project Street Vet, through which he and other veterinarians hit the streets to treat the pets of homeless people. It started quietly, a one-man secret mission in the poorest parts of California towns. It now involves veterinarians volunteering in several cities, from San Diego and Los Angeles to Orlando, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
As he was getting ready to fly home Monday, Stewart said via text it had been “an incredible, emotional and humbling weekend.” He also said the win “(h)asn’t quite sunk in yet. Still waiting for the adrenaline to ease up.”
The win comes with a $100,000 donation toward Project Street Vet — although during his acceptance speech, Stewart surprised the nine other finalists with an offer to share it.
“This part certainly wasn’t planned but the $100,000 — I want to celebrate with all of you. It splits evenly 10 ways pretty nicely. It is my contribution to all of us,” Stewart said.
The veterinarian shared with the audience a story of recently treating the dog of a homeless man, and the man mentioning offhand that he himself had not eaten in two days. Stewart returned with sandwiches — one for himself, one for the man.
“He tore off a corner of it, and he gave the rest to his dog,” Stewart said. He paused, growing emotional. “They’ve taught me a lot, too.”
Project Street Vet traces its roots to a 2011 encounter Stewart had years ago outside a Central Valley convenience store, when the veterinarian spotted a homeless man and a dog ailing from a severe flea infection. Stewart checked out the pup then returned the next day with $3 medication to treat it.
Within 10 days, the dog was “transformed.” The dog’s tearful owner thanked Stewart for not ignoring him. And Stewart has said he knew right then that he would continue helping the pets of homeless people.
For years afterward, Stewart walked the streets on his own time, treating the pets, paying for medicine and hospital stays out of his own pocket, all while still paying off student loans. He did a lot of work in Los Angeles on Skid Row.
in 2015, he moved to San Diego County and continued doing the work in both regions. In 2020, he founded Project Street Vet as a nonprofit charity.
A special GoFundMe account was set up to benefit Stewart’s nonprofit in partnership with CNN Heroes, Elevate Prize Foundation, and GoFundMe. Elevate said it would match donations to all of the 2023 Top 10 CNN Heroes up to $50,000 per hero. Stewart’s nonprofit had topped $110,000 in donations as of Monday afternoon.
