Mayor Elizabeth Patterson poses with Ben, a cartoon Benicia mascot created for Heritage Presbyterian Church’s “How to Make the World a Better Place” series. People are encouraged to download an image of Ben, cut him out, color him in and take pictures of him in places throughout the globe. Patterson will be the featured speaker at the next “How to Make the World a Better Place” event on Wednesday, Jan. 24. (Photo by Pat Plant)

He is set to become Benicia’s biggest globe traveler, even though he is just a piece of paper. Still, Heritage Presbyterian Church (HPC) is on a mission to send Ben— Benicia’s unofficial mascot— to as many exotic places as possible.

Ben is a cartoon city ambassador drawn by local artist Joe Leon as part of HPC’s “How to Make the World a Better Place” series of events. According to program coordinator Pat Plant, the idea is to get people to learn about what they can do to improve the things that upset them in the world. Past events have included lectures on combating climate change and sustainable food production, and an essay contest co-sponsored by Benicia Literary Arts on ideas to improve the world.

One of the most interactive parts of this program is the “Send Ben” campaign, in which people are asked to download an image of Ben— short for “Benicia”—, cut him out and color him in with crayons, markers or colored pencils. People may also download a pre-colored version of Ben if they choose. They can then take Ben to any interesting place in the world, take a picture with him in it and submit it to Heritage Presbyterian Church for inclusion in a display to be installed in May.

Plant said the primary inspiration for the campaign was “Flat Stanley,” Jeff Brown’s children’s book series about a flattened young boy who takes advantage of his altered state by mailing himself in envelopes to other parts of the world. This series inspired the Flat Stanley Project, which began as a school assignment by Canadian third-grade teacher Dale Hubert and has since become adopted by many other schools where students illustrate a cutout of Stanley and mail him to friends or relatives in other areas.

“Many teachers and other people have done events like ours,” Plant said.

The activity has been a big success with Heritage Presbyterian Church, according to Plant. She said the church has received more than 100 pictures of Ben, mostly from around Benicia and throughout the state, but also in places like Washington State, Morocco and Venice. Plant ideally wants to see Ben in front of landmarks on every continent.

“Ben just wants to go around and see the world,” she said.

Plant said friends have offered to bring Ben with them to notable places. She knows a priest who is taking Ben with him to Vatican City, and she hopes he can get a good shot of him— hopefully even with Pope Francis. She also has a friend who will be bringing Ben on a missionary trip to Africa.

“I hope there will be hundreds and hundreds of pictures,” Plant said.

Once the display is up and running in May, Plant hopes children and adults alike will come out to see it.

“They will see the world through this little guy,” she said.

Heritage Presbyterian Church will also be hosting another event in the “How to Make the World a Better Place” series next Wednesday, featuring Mayor Elizabeth Patterson and members of Vallejo-Benicia Indivisible for Justice. They will talk about what it takes for individuals to get their elected officials to listen to them over something they are upset about.

“A lot of people think they have no power, but they really have lots of power,” Plant said.

The event will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 24 at Heritage Presbyterian Church, located at 1400 East 2nd St. Plant is happy with the success the series has had and hopes it will inspire people to make a change.

“It’s a way to make people feel powerful and to not be content with the status quo but to make things better,” she said.

Ben can be downloaded from hpcbenicia.org/make-world-better/send-ben/. Photos should be submitted to betterworldbenicia@gmail.com by the April 16 deadline. For more information, go to http://www.hpcbenicia.org/make-world-better/send-ben/.

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