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The Compassion Series
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Meet the Creators
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The Compassion Series
Home
Contact
Meet the Creators
Buy on Amazon
Home
Contact
Meet the Creators
Buy on Amazon

OUR STORY

During the 2020 lockdown, Crystle Wong Vitari and her husband began spending their weekends cooking hot meals and serving the homeless community in their San Francisco neighborhood. It began as a simple challenge — “$10 to feed 10” — and grew into something deeper: real relationships with the people they met, learning their names, their stories, and their needs.

It started with a meal

1,004 HOT MEALS SERVED

Along the way, Crystle noticed something. Adults are quick to feel for people in need — but slow to do anything. The Compassion Series exists to change that, starting where change is easiest: with children. Not by sending them to the frontline, but by shaping the heart early — so the instinct to help is already there when they’re grown.

FAITH AT THE HEART OF IT

Why I Serve

The Compassion Series is written from a deep place of faith and decades of hands-on expertise. Author Crystle Wong Vitari serves because she believes every single person is made in the image of God—deeply loved, valued, and worthy of human dignity.

Crystle’s dedication to the vulnerable spans from grassroots volunteerism to regional executive governance. She served for eight years on the Board of Directors for Lutheran Social Services of Northern California (LSSNorCal)—part of a vital network that collectively touches the lives of 1 in every 5 Americans nationwide—and currently continues her work on their Emeritus Board.

With a deep passion for youth empowerment and community restoration, Crystle has served with The Princess Project to promote self-confidence in young women, and proudly supports Old Skool Cafe, a faith-forward, violence-prevention restaurant run by at-risk youth in San Francisco. Locally, she has supported and served neighborhood food pantries and actively volunteers and financially supports Mobilize Love, bringing hope and mobile resources directly to children and families in under-resourced communities.

This series is a prayer for the next generation. It is dedicated to every parent and educator raising the compassionate change-makers of tomorrow, stewarding our children “for the kingdom of God, to bring more of Heaven down to Earth.”

““Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.””
— Matthew 25:40

An author and an artist — and a family

MEET THE CREATORS

AUTHOR

Crystle Wong Vitari

A San Francisco native and a woman of faith, Crystle writes the books she wishes every child could grow up with. Her conviction is simple: every person has a story worth knowing — and she has lived it out, meal by meal, alongside her unhoused neighbors.

CREATIVE ARTS DIRECTOR & ORIGINAL SKETCHES

Arne JinAn Wong

Crystle’s uncle, and an Emmy- and Clio-winning animator with more than 40 years in the craft. Self-taught from age 18, his work spans visual effects on Disney’s Tron and the development of Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer. Every character in the book began as one of his hand-drawn sketches.

The character of Grandpa is a loving tribute to Arne’s father, Benson Wong — a U.S. Army veteran whose gentleness shaped the family that made this book.

Homelessness can be a hard subject to raise. This book does the gentle work for you.

  • Talk Time prompts help you carry the conversation forward in your own words.

  • Solution Time offers age-appropriate ways for children to help — always safe, always supervised.

  • A reassuring frame: children grow the habit of compassion now, and grow into adults who act.

For parents, teachers & librarians

FOR GROWN-UPS

The book never asks children to approach strangers or serve unsupervised — kindness here stays squarely within a child’s reach.

Classrooms, libraries & groups

Bringing the book to a classroom, library, or church group? Get in touch about read-alouds, school visits, and bulk orders.

Email us

Ten books. Ten real people. One mission.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Grandpa, Why Are There Homeless People? is the first of ten planned picture books for ages 5–8 — each one inspired by a real person Crystle met and came to know. Every story is true at its heart. From there, the series will grow into separate lines for older readers, because compassion is worth teaching at every age.

NOW

Ages 5-8

10 picture books — Book One available now.

COMING

Middle School

Stories for older children and pre-teens.

COMING

High School

Deeper reads for teen audiences.

COMING

Adults

Compassion, carried into adulthood.

Be the first to hear about new books, school visits, and ways to help. A few thoughtful emails a year — never spam.

Thank you!

JOIN THE JOURNEY

Stay in the Loop

Bring the conversation home.

Grandpa, Why Are There Homeless People? is available now on Amazon.

Buy on Amazon

thecompassionseries@gmail.com

Published by Hendrickson Publishing, a division of Hendrickson Studios, LLC.

© 2026 The Compassion Series. All rights reserved.