PLEASE MEET JOSHUA:
“Why are people judging others based on their worth and title, not on who they are as a person?”
Joshua is 28 years old and lives in a yellow school bus. He’s a really good man. He’s also really trying to figure out his life. How and where he fits in. So much in society, the way things work, the way things are, doesn't seem right to him.
He’ll ask, “Why do people say you need to live your own life, but then everyone runs around trying to control each other? How can I live my own life if I’m living it how you want me to live?” or, “Why do the wealthy just keep on wanting to make more and more money while others suffer with nothing or while the environment gets destroyed? Don’t they see what they are doing?”
I asked Joshua what his first real memory was? He paused for a good while and then said, “I remember coming to a courtroom with my sister when I was about 5 years old. My mom sitting there with handcuffs on. Then my dad walked in, also in handcuffs.”
Joshua spent his childhood inANDout of Foster Care. At 12 he ran away for good from the system. Over the next five years he was in Juvenile Detention more times than not. At 17, when he was facing the prospect of being sent to, as he says, “Big Boys Jail”, his mother showed up out of nowhere to claim him, the first time he had seen her since he was a little kid. She was drunk but the court released him to her on probation nonetheless.
A few months later, at 17 ½ years old, he left his mom without saying goodbye. Walked out the door and made his way from San Diego to Seattle. He needed to start over. To try and figure things out. Joshua deals with layers and layers of trauma. Miraculously, he does this without illegal drugs. His dog Cheese, who is his best friend, calms him when he ramps up with frustration, or drops down into depression.
I’ve known Joshua for over six years. I believe in him. I know he's going to find the life answers to how and where he fits in.
Right now though he's in danger of losing his bus/home. The City of Seattle has recently announced it will once again remove illegally parked vehicles. This is sending a wave of worry through those currently living in their cars, Rvs, and buses. Joshua’s bus is having some sort of transmission problem, now unable to go over 20 mph.
We are asking our community to help raise $3,000.00 to have the issue diagnosed and repaired. We know this is a bigASK. We also know it will mean the world to Joshua.
UPDATE: The Paypal link has been pulled in that the goal of $3,000.00 has been reached with approximately $3,500.00 donated! (We are still waiting for Paypal's final report.) So much LOVE for this community. We will keep you updated about Joshua's bus!!!!
IF there are any unused funds raised for Joshua’s bus they will go to help provide services for others living homeless. In no circumstance do funds go to Facing Homelessness.
Last time we visited, Joshua said, “It’s not that I don’t want to be a part of society, I just don’t know how yet. It seems all I do is struggle and I still can’t make enough for the bare necessities.”
Let’s give Joshua some more time to figure it out. He’s worth it.
SODO Neighborhood | Rex
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A QUIET THOUGHT - If you’re moved by the goodness of this community, please visit http://www.facinghomelessness.org/ and click on the ‘donate’ button and consider a gift that is meaningful to you--even a “monthly recurring” donation of just $5 in support of the work. THANK YOU!
