Shout Out - Our Unsung Hero - Joshua

This young man deserves the loudest shout out possible! Some of you may know him as Joshua but to us, he is our buddy Josh and the biggest unsung hero of the project! Josh was five years old when he first asked JT if he could help with the project after reading about it in the local newspaper. This year was Josh's third year helping and boy has he set the bar pretty high for other kids!! Josh does a can drive on his street by himself for the whole month of September. He designs flyers announcing the can drive, goes door to door and speaks personally to all his neighbors about the project and what he wants to accomplish that year. Josh sets up a collection can on his front sidewalk so people can just drop off returnables. Then he sorts and bags them as the can gets full. If someone on his street can not drop off, Josh takes his little red wagon and collects the returnables. To some of you this might not seem like much. Let me put this is a better perspective. Josh is only 8. He does the collecting all on his own because he wants to help. He receives (in our eyes) very little recognition for all his hard work. He does not just stop collecting after the month of September, he collects all winter long and stores the returnables in his parents garage. Josh wants to help! He loves to see the kids smiling and laughing as much as we do. JT and I are always in awe of Josh and his unselfishness. What is so amazing to us, Josh is still Josh. He could have very well walked away from the project with all the media attention being focused on the Extreme Train Makeover and JT. But he did not. Josh has hung right in there. So this shout out goes to the greatest kid and bestes buddy we could ever ask for... Joshua Tsujimoto! You are awesome and you continue to inspire those around you. Thank you Joshua for helping us, your neighbors, your community, your church and total strangers to continue to dream, inspire and believe! May the force be with you and rock on, dude! YOU ROCK!!
We are forever gratefull.... All Aboard!! Jon Thomas and Monica