2012 Most Inspiring Person of the Year

Pastor Corey Brooks

Corey B. Brooks, Jr., is known to many as a Hoodologist or the Rooftop Pastor. Brooks spent 94 days on top of a roof of an abandoned Chicago motel in the winter, in order to raise money to renovate a building. Movie celeb Tyler Perry was impressed by Brooks’s relentless will and donated $98,000 to the cause. On June 15, 2012, Brooks took his extreme advocacy tactics on the road where he will complete a cross country walk across the U.S. to raise $15 million for development of a Chicago community center in Woodlawn.