Today, we introduce a few of the nominees who have already made New York a better place through their selfless actions and unflagging dedication.

Nicole Burrowes may weigh just 109 pounds, but she was a heavyweight blackout-buster, helping elderly residents who lost water at a Brooklyn housing project when New York's power went out.

Burrowes, 35, and her 14-year-old son, Chadwick, repeatedly trudged up and down the 14-story project's dark stairs, each carrying a gallon jug and a plastic bucket that they kept refilling with water at an open fire hydrant outside. Her 5-year-old son lit the way with a flashlight.

With the offer of free water, they knocked on doors on every floor of the building that houses only senior citizens at 109 Lewis Ave. in the Eleanor Roosevelt 1 Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

"Because we enjoyed doing it, we did not feel the strain until we got to the 14th floor," she said. They brought water to about 40 apartments between 10 a.m. until the power came back at 2 p.m.

"When you see me, I'm a skinny person, both myself and my sons, but we got the strength from God," she said.

"I love to help people."

Burrowes, who lives elsewhere in the project, didn't know any of the elderly residents personally.

But when she awoke Aug. 15 to find she still had no running water and "had to go get water to flush the commode, I looked outside the window and wondered about the people in that building. I figured if I needed water, they sure do need it."

The single mom said it was a good thing for her sons to do.

"I try to teach the boys that in this world, you don't have to do everything for money," she said.

Burrowes, who just graduated from the Borough of Manhattan Community College, hopes to work as an assistant teacher in a day-care setting.

Her friend Denise Prince nominated her for the Liberty Community Medal, saying, "She's always concerned about the elderly."