Meet Orion Jean ~10-Year-Old On A Mission To Race to Kindness and Share His Love of #Reading #WATWB

Welcome to the “We are the World Blogfest” (#WATWB). The #WATWB was inspired by a simple conversation about how all the negativity on social media was weighing on us. Wanting to make a difference, we decided to try to do our part to infuse social media with all the good stories that are out there. We hope to share the stories that show kindness, compassion, hope, overcoming challenges and in general, the impressive resilience of the human spirit. For every dark, negative story out there, there is a positive, heartwarming story that will add some light and lift the human spirit. #WATWB was started in 2017, this month marks our forty-ninth opportunity to share positive uplifting stories to inspire, give hope and motivate others. The last Friday of every month bloggers share their stories led by two co-hosts, this month’s co-hosts are Mary J. Giese and Belinda Witzenhausen.

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” ~Stephen King

For those who know me…and those who follow me on social media, it’s common knowledge that I am an avid reader, I love books! Yes, I’m one of those annoying people who has a TBR piled high with books still left to read and thinks a good time is staying home with a good book.

When I stumbled across the story of ten-year-old Orion Jean and his mission to share his love of reading with other kids by collecting 500,000 books to give to thousands of kids in an effort to share his love of reading, I had to share. What was even more impressive he has launched a mission called “Race to Kindness” which inspires good deeds such as toy drives and providing meals to families in need.

Orion is definitely a go-getter and known for his compassion, so much so that in 2020, he won a student kindness contest where he displayed his own campaign of compassion. “Kindness is a virtue we can all possess. If we are willing to,” he said. “So why not start today. Because right now, it’s what we need more than ever.” With his prize money he donated toys to the Dallas Children’s Hospital where he lives and helped collect meals for Texas families in need. Orion credits that contest as being the catalyst for his “Race to Kindness”. Now feeling blessed, he wants to help children without access to books at home to find their passion for reading by supplying them with the books they need. Orion really is on a mission and I can’t wait to see what his next mission is.

For more information please check out his website linked above and check out the video below for his most recent mission!

If you wish to join us this month share the link to your #WATWB on Facebook here or on Twitter at @WATWB so we can visit.

“It’s all about my moral duty to help people,” he said. “You know, it’s my responsibility to be able to see these people who need help and knowing that I have the resources to help them.”~ Orion Jean