Try being kind, says Orion

11-year old donates thousands of books to area youth

By Cheryl Smith
Texas Metro News

Out of the mouths of babes.

Orion Jean is like so many 11-year-olds around the world. He’s smart, energetic, caring, loves to read, and he feels the world will be a much better place, if people are kinder.

An author and prize-winning writer, Orion Jean begin making headlines in 2020 after winning the National Kindness Speech Contest; and equally impressive was his donation of his $500 prize to Children’s Medical Center Hospital in Dallas.

Saturday, Orion was in South Dallas, at the Ideal Neighborhood Association area’s T.R. Hoover Community Center, spreading kindness to the tune of thousands of books distributed to a steady stream of children of all ages.

Accompanied by his parents, McDonald and Kherri, and younger sister, Crown; the author of “A Kids Book about Leadership,” shared his message of kindness and making this world a better place.

When you think of racing these days, Orion wants his mission-driven Race to Kindness, to become a household name with more and more people embracing his message.

“I hope to inspire,” said Orion. “Hopefully by doing things like this (book giveaway), just being kind in your communities and donating books where you are, would be a big help.”

It’s no wonder that Orion is involved and committed to service. Both parents are involved in service organizations and they lead by example.

Mr. Jean described his son as “selfless” with a servant heart and Mrs. Jean said they exposed him to service projects. 

Since the inception of Race to Kindness there have been donations of more than 500 toys to Children’s Medical Center, more than 100,000 meals for families and now with donations and assistance from people like William Shelton and his team at ThriftBooks, there’s the drive for 500,000 books to share his favorite hobby with his peers.

Sharing his social media information orion_monaco_jean on Instagram and the website: www.https://www.racetokindness.com/, Orion said some who want to help may not live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where he lives, but that shouldn’t deter those who want to support and spread kindness.

Acknowledging the stereotypes that focus on sports and music as of major interest to young Black and Brown children, Mr. McDonald’s scanned the crowd as he talked about the entire families that showed up early for the days activities and the youth eagerly grabbed books.