10-year-old who helped donate 100,000 meals is on a mission to spread kindness
Orion Jean is a kid on a mission. His goal: to spread kindness to as many people as he can and inspire others to do the same.
It all started last year when Orion’s elementary school teacher in Texas suggested that the then 9-year-old enter the National Kindness Speech Contest. “I decided that I was just going to give it a shot and see how it would go,” Orion tells Yahoo Life. He gave a speech about how kindness could “change a nation,” and won the competition, receiving a $500 cash prize.
He quickly realized he wasn’t going to use all of that money. “I’m a kid,” Orion says, “I have everything that I could ever want. But there are people who don’t.”
Orion, who says his parents instilled in him that “kindness is a virtue that we should all try to possess,” came up with the idea of the Race to Kindness campaign — a series of events to help others. Orion describes Race to Kindness as “just an idea where I hoped that I would be able to spread kindness and people would be able to join the race by spreading kindness in their own communities.”
Video Transcript
ORION JEAN: As long as you have an idea and kindness in your heart, you can spread that kindness to anyone. If this is possible, then
What isn't?
My name is Orion Jean and I am 10 years old. About a year ago, I got an email from my teacher who was telling me about a speech contest that she wanted me to enter. I decided that I was just going to give it a shot and see how it would go.
Question is, how can kindness change a nation?
I was able to win the competition. I won some prize money with it. I knew that I wasn't really going to use $500. I'm a kid. I have everything that I could ever want, but there are people who don't. My parents have always taught me that kindness is a virtue that we should all try to possess and it's something that they carried on to me and my brother.
Join me in the race of kindness.
The Race to Kindness was just an idea where I hoped that I would be able to spread kindness and people would be able to join the race. Seeing that one of the effects of the pandemic had was children who were already in the hospital, they aren't able to see their family as much. And what better way to take a child's mind off of something than a toy?
But 619 toys, thanks to your selfless acts of kindness.
We were able to donate them to the Children's Health Hospital in Dallas. Hopefully, one of the toys would put a smile on someone's face. After the toy donation, our next goal was the Race to 100,000 Meals. The need in our community has always been there. There have always been people who have been food insecure and we decided to partner with a local non-profit organization to help reach 100,000 meals and 100,000 people who might not have had a meal for Thanksgiving.
We were able to not only reach, but surpass our goal of 100,000 meals. Of course, after the Race to 100,000 meals, we knew that we had to do something else. The Race to 500,000 Books was born. I am a huge book fan, as you can see behind me. There are books that I want people to be able to experience. People live in book deserts sometimes. They don't have bookstores or libraries that they can go to. And if they do, maybe it's because they don't have the time where they can afford it. Studies do show that children who have books in their homes do better academically. We hope that people will continue to donate to nonprofit literacy organizations in their community because the race is never over.
And seeing the community come together for this crazy race that we've been going, it's so amazing to see. We are all capable of being kind people. So long as you're helping people and making them feel loved, that is what it's all about.
