After seeing starving children on a Feed the Children program, Joshua Williams knew his life goal was to end hunger and suffering.
Joshua then did what any five-year-old in that situation would do – he asked his mom for help.
Two years later, Joshua is now the president of Joshua Heart – a nonprofit foundation committed to ending hunger through overall community effort, increasing awareness about global hunger issues, mobilizing support for hunger relief programs and activities, and working on early childhood and youth education programs to end the cycle of poverty.
“Since I was 5 years old, I have wanted to do something to help the poor,” Joshua wrote in his “Message from the President” on the foundation’s website. “I wanted to do this because I don’t want to see kids suffer. I am going to give people food and things so they can find a way to help themselves. Whenever I work, I will give some of my money to help.”
The foundation is staffed by Joshua, his family and a crew of volunteers (known as Joshua’s “elves”). They distribute food once a month and feed the homeless once a week in the Miami area, and also deliver food to the sick and elderly. The foundation reports that it serves more than 100 homeless persons and 450 families monthly.
The foundation also participates in the Back Pack Program, which provides low-income children with a backpack full of nutritious, nonperishable food at times when they cannot receive the free or discounted school lunch for which they qualify, such as on weekends and school vacations. Donors can sponsor a child or make a donation through the Joshua Heart website.
After concentrating on local hunger issues for two years, Joshua has recently added a focus to global hunger, and is considering a trip to Africa in the future.
“He just made up his mind that this is what he wanted to do,” his mom, Claudia McLean, told the Miami Herald. “There is no stopping him.”
