A Fort Worth fifth-grader is in the final push of his goal of dishing out 100,000 Thanksgiving meals to those in need this year.
NBC 5 met Orion Jean a few weeks ago. He was worried about people in his community who lost their jobs and were struggling.
"I want them to know they are loved, they are unique, they are talented," said Orion.
Orion's love isn't just happening on the corners where he's collecting food to give to the needy this Thanksgiving. It's also happening in his classroom at Chisolm Ridge Elementary in Fort Worth.
"This just gave the ability for students to be like 'I know someone this worked for and I can make a difference,'" said Orion's teacher Jennifer Alvarado.
She said the students all jumped in to help with Orion's race for kindness, but it also sparked conversations about social injustices in the world. Questions about how laws and government work, and small pushes for change led to big events in history.
Orion said it's also helped with the day to day operation of what he's doing.
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"For the past four months we've been going to the store and buying a bunch of materials and that involves a lot of math. A lot of people don't like math for a lot of reasons but it's personally my favorite subject," said Orion.
He can easily sit back and watch the numbers of people who have stepped up to help him multiply. The race to 100,000 meals brought Orion on TV shows around the country and donations pouring in from food stores to Ford, to help him hit the mark.
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, he hit 94,000 meals, flirting with his goal. He's hoping for some last-minute donations to get him closer to the mark and planning events after Thanksgiving too.
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