When Orion Jean entered a contest in July 2020, he had no idea how much it would change his life—or the lives of others. The contest involved writing and recording a speech, and he had only one day to do it. Luckily, the topic was something he knows a lot about.
“I talked about how important it is to spread kindness and make people feel loved,” Orion says.
The 11-year-old from Fort Worth, Texas, won the $500 grand prize. Orion knew that a lot of people were struggling because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and he wanted to help. He turned his words into action by starting a series of events called the Race to Kindness.
Orion’s first project was a toy drive called Race to 500 Toys. Instead of using his prize money to buy video games or books for himself, Orion spent it all on toys for kids in a local hospital. He also asked for donations from people in his community. In the end, Orion surpassed his goal, delivering more than 600 toys for the young patients. After the success of his first “race,” Orion decided to keep going.
“I hope that what I do inspires people to be kind in their own communities,” he says. “A lot of things can be fixed by simply being kind.”