Veteran Creates Inspiring TV Show for Kids: ‘Doing God’s Will’

Published: March 15, 2024

Veteran Creates Inspiring TV Show for Kids: ‘Doing God’s Will’

By Movieguide® Contributor

Navy veteran Michael Hyacinthe wanted to empower veterans to share their stories, but his tool – Wimage – ended up becoming a children’s TV show.

Hyacinthe joined the Navy out of high school, and after completing his deployment, he wanted to support other veterans. He created Has Heart, a non-profit empowering veterans through art.

“Has Heart is purposefully doing that, hoping veterans can heal, express themselves, and share their stories with community members that can get to know them and then eventually figure out ways to support the community,” he told the “Jesus Calling” podcast. “So we’re using art as a bridge for veterans to express themselves and to connect and be a part of the community that they live in.”

To aid this process, Has Heart created a tool called Wimage – an app that converts “words to images.” When they first began testing the product, they sent it out to veterans and early childhood workers.

“We got positive feedback from the early childhood population. Parents said to us, ‘This is a really cool tool. We can help kids tell visual stories. We can help kids learn vocabulary. We can help kids become storytellers,’” Hyacinthe said.

“So we pivoted from using the tool for veterans to using a tool that would inspire kids to be creative and storytellers. We created Wimee the Robot that is now the face of the app that has blossomed into a PBS show called WIMEE’S WORDS,” he continued. “It starts with allowing [kids] to recognize the value of their imagination.”

Fox 17 reported, “The show reaches around 40 million homes around the country, teaching kids everything from words, shapes and colors to empathy, understanding the power of their imagination and becoming good citizens.”

The show also features a segment where kids can participate via the app.

“… kids are actually helping to create the content with our Wimee app,” he said. “Kids are submitting words. And then in real time, Wimee is taking those words and turning those words into stories.”

“So that’s what Wimage is all about, putting a tool in a child’s hand so that they can see their ideas and create the stories that they want to share with the world,” Hyacinthe added.

Last summer, he released a book about Wimee called “Wimee Creates with Vehicles and Colors.”

Per the publisher, “…this simple concept book teaches rhyming and colors, as well as prepositions and action verbs, and encourages readers to create their own unique rhymes and images.”

Through this process of empowering veterans and encouraging kids, Hyacinthe has relied on God to guide him and help him be a strong leader.

“There are a lot of ups and downs in this journey of life, which is sometimes completely out of our control, but knowing that ultimately I’m doing God’s will and I need His strength,” he said.

“I know that I am not alone, that I have someone – the Creator – that is with me and that is guiding me through the good and bad,” Hyacinthe continued. “I think we all need to know that we are not alone in this journey and acknowledging that through Him, we can get through things – that requires faith and it requires God’s grace, and I can only find that through prayer.”