About Joshua's Heart Foundation
Joshua’s Heart Foundation (JHF) was founded in 2005 in Miami Beach, Fla. by Joshua Williams when he was four years old. Joshua’s Heart is dedicated to the fight against global hunger and poverty. JHF is a 501(c) (3), not-for-profit, youth-run organization, which empowers needy people to improve their quality of life by providing necessities like groceries and personal items. JHF also effectively engages and educates youth on committing to fight hunger and poverty on a global basis.
Volunteers are an integral part of Joshua’s Heart’s efforts to stomp out hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world. Our volunteers are both children and adults who work directly with the needy and in administrative and planning areas.
Our Mission and Core Values
Our Mission
To inspire and empower youth to tackle global issues and change the world through kindness, teamwork, and determination.
Our Vision
To effectively engage and educate young people in committing to fight hunger and poverty on a global basis.
Our Core Values
- Community
- Awareness
- Volunteerism
- Education
We Reach Out to Our Community
You may think that hunger is a problem that only impacts Americans who are homeless or destitute. In reality, someone in your neighborhood, workplace or school is likely to miss at least one meal a day due to food insecurity.
Feeding America projects that 42 million people (1 in 8), including 13 million children (1 in 6), may experience food insecurity in 2021.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), as recently as 2019, roughly 89.5 percent of U.S. households were food secure throughout the year. The remaining 10.5 percent of households were food insecure at least some time during the year. Those with income near the federal poverty level, as well as Latino and African American households are even more likely to be at risk for hunger.
Hunger has a huge impact on our educational system as well. Hunger is particularly dangerous for children. Not only can it stunt physical growth, it can make it far more difficult for children to learn. Children make up 22 percent of the U.S. population, but represent almost one-third of all Americans living in poverty.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, schools implement the Free and Reduced Lunch Program (FRLP) to assist in feeding the nation’s children at school, and the numbers are staggering. Mid-to-high poverty level schools have between 50 and 75 percent qualifying students and high-poverty level schools have 75 percent qualifying students.
That means that these students live in households that are at risk for food insecurity. For many children, the school meal program provides their only balanced daily meal. Joshua’s Heart has programs for children and parents can help stomp out hunger in any community.
Joshua’s Heart has programs for children and parents can help stomp out hunger in any community.
We Create Awareness
The first step to solving a problem is acknowledging that it exists. That’s why one of the major goals of Joshua’s Heart is to increase awareness of hunger and hunger-related issues, both locally and on a global scale. People who are aware of hunger as a serious threat in their community, and around the world, are more likely to volunteer, lobby their elected officials to support initiatives that will fight hunger, and donate money to the cause.
Joshua’s Heart utilizes multiple social, digital, and outreach platforms to reach young people and donors, to recognize partner organizations, and to help spread awareness about hunger and other important social issues.
We Organize Volunteer Actions
Joshua’s Heart is open to volunteers of all ages. Once people are aware that poverty and hunger are issues in their communities and beyond, Joshua’s Heart is ready to mobilize them to action.
Whether someone wants to spend just one day a month packing bags of food for our grocery distribution program, or would like to participate on a more engaged level with our Junior Advisory Board (JAB), or would enjoy leading a project in your community, Joshua’s Heart has an opportunity that will allow anyone to be of service and help stomp out hunger.
We Educate Families
The best way to stomp out hunger is to prevent it from occurring in the first place. Education is the most powerful weapon we have in the fight against food insecurity.
Adults who have a solid education are more likely to have jobs that pay well enough to comfortably feed, clothe and shelter a family. According to research by the Brookings Institute, adults who attend preschool, Head Start, or other early education programs are more likely to graduate from high school and attend and graduate from college. Joshua’s Heart wants to break the cycle of poverty so future generations can exist without hunger.
Joshua’s Heart Foundation supports local and national early childhood and youth education programs by partnering with companies like: Unilever, PepsiCo, Hormel, Dole, Disney, Hasbro, Whole Foods Market, Publix, and TJ Maxx. In September 2019, founder Joshua Williams shared the stage with Vice President Joe Biden.
