Welcome Riverbenders!
A beautiful children’s book series by Riverbenders. A chance to help others and spur our own children to read, learn and give!
Mark and Toni Williams are decade-long members of Riverbend and have loved being a part of this dynamic church where unique creativity and deep spirituality are celebrated. Certainly that was part of the inspiration for their latest venture, Oceanbags, a nonprofit that makes backpacks and totes from plastic before it enters the ocean. Each time a bag is purchased, they donate a backpack to a child at risk and plant a mangrove tree, the superhero in the fight against carbon impact!
Recently, that effort has evolved further. They explain, “After encountering the stories and faces of hundreds of children in need and returning home to our own healthy secure kids and grandkids, we knew we had to do more. We must connect the dots between those two disparate worlds for the sake of all the kids’ hearts and their future world.”
As an innovation for generosity training for children, Oceanbags launched Kids and Planet, an initiative that produces original picture books set all over the globe about fictitious children who are patterned after real kids in real places caught in circumstances of need. Carefully researched, these adventures invoke empathy and understanding about unique cultures while they inspire a pattern of generosity. A QR code in each book links the reader to a page where as little as one dollar can be donated. This donation is not to the Oceanbags nonprofit but to a charity supporting children like the crisis character in every story, so each QR is exclusive to that book.
Illustrated in artful detail that transport readers into each unique environment, Kids and Planet books will fill heads with learning and hearts with yearning to experience the happiness only altruism can arouse.
Toni is eager to speak to any group of parents, grandparents, or educators on behalf of generosity training. She also loves reading stories aloud to any interested audience. Reach her at toni@oceanbags.com.
Click on the pictures below to see our beautiful books!
