Help Joshua & his Family

"HELP IS ON THE WAY"

So I'm sitting here at the ocean in my van, door open, tuning up my guitar and this african amaerican man walks over. He starts talking to me about how he was looking for a van to buy for his family. He currently lives in a Toyota Camry. Him,his wife, and 4 kids. They have been living in the car for the past 2 years. They sleep at Von's supermarket and wake up every day to a labor meeting house from 7am to 1pm with hopes to get work. When he doesn't get work he reads from the bible to his kids and stays at the beach. As he's telling me all this his wife walks over to give him a diaper to throw away. As he walks away from my car to throw out the diaper, I reach in my wallet with to give him all the cash I have in my wallet, somewhere around $85. He comes back and I insist he takes this money . I tell him please take it , go out for a nice dinner with your family. He says NO ! We go back and forth and he is insistent with not taking the money. He just wouldn't take it. He says to me "the gesture was enough of a payment. I see you, you are my brother, and I love you." ~ Tears filled my eyes. 

APPRECIATE ALL YOU HAVE AND SHARE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

Eventually they did get the money. I ran up and put in his wiper blade with a note that said "God Bless you and your family." He jumped out of the car and stared at me with the deepest gratitude. As I drove off all the kids were waving from inside the car. I was so touched by the integrity of this family and witnessing there struggle was nothing short of heartbreaking.  

This is a campaigne set up with hopes to get them a reliable van.  These are beautiful people, people of faith,  who are just down on there luck. 

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 FOLLOW UP STORY ABOUT THE FAMILY I MET YESTERDAY

So I was so amazed by the outreach of all of you who commented, reached out wanting to help. Many of you asked if I had there contact info which I had not. So last night at midnight I drove to the Vons parking lot in search of this family. I pulled into the parking lot and sure enough there was the car with all of them sleeping in it. I knocked on the window and told them that I posted my story of meeting them earlier in the day on Facebook. I told them there are many people who want to help you. They both sat there with tears in there eyes. They told me that they were listening to a sermon on the radio earlier in the evening and the title of the sermon was "Help is on the Way ".

If you were touched by Joshua and the story of his struggles and want to help this family. I have set up a GOFUNDME campaign to raise money to get them a van. There were over 350 of you who read the story if each of us could give just $10 they could have a reliable van in the next week or two. If you were touched by this story and want to help here is the link : http://www.gofundme.com/joshuavan

If you can not donate then please help by sharing the story and the campaign. These are truly good people who truly need help. Lets rise the occasion and help them any way we can. I appreciate everyone of you for the outpouring of love sent to this beautiful loving family.

If anyone has a potential job in the Malibu area please message me and I will give you Joshua's Phone #

Bless us all <3

Lets step up and be Angels for this family and bless them with a van 

HERE IS A VIDEO OF ME TELLING HIM WE RAISED $4000 WITHIN 24 hrs. 
http://youtu.be/FGlDHMAdaks




DAY 3 : WE DID IT $5,000 ! Thank you to everyone who donated and has shared the campaign so far. www.gofundme.com/joshuavan

This morning I met with Joshua and his family of 4 ( not 3 ). I didn't hear from them yesterday and I was a little worried, so I got up this morning and drove along the PCH to find them and luckily I did. Apparently there phone broke. So after spending a little more time with Joshua, I found out some more information about how he ended up in this situation. Originally from Dallas, just a couple years ago, he ran a convenient store. He would work the store during the week and would quite often feed the homeless on the weekends. One day someone walked into his store and robbed him with a gun. He was shot in the arm. Today he showed me the flesh wound, where a chunk of skin on his arm is gone. After that happened everything fell apart. When they became homeless living in there car they knew they had to move somewhere where it wasn't so hot. So they headed to Los Angeles. 

When I sat with them today I told them how much the community is helping out. They both stared into my eyes with tears pouring down there face. Words could never express how appreciative they are to everyone. I told them that I was originally going to take down the campaign today but have decided not to. I decided I would fund them some of my own money in order to keep the campaign going. If we could raise enough money to get them an apartment to rent. A 6 months to a year lease paid plus enough to cover utilities while Joshua finds a job. That would obviously be the best for them and most of all for there kids. They have been looking at one bedroom apartments but landlords won't let them live there because its 6 people living in a one bedroom studio. If anyone knows of any landlords that are cool and would rent them a studio apartment please message me. I am also going to be looking into some different social services that are out there that might be able to help. Any ideas pass them along. 

When we asked Joshua what his work skills are, he replied : 
Carpentry, landscaping, house keeping, ranch hand, car detail, tele marketing, great with numbers/math, science, Sunday school teacher. He even said in that same text that he will donate his time free or non profit work.

IF ANYONE HAS ANY LEADS TO HELP GET HIM A JOB THAT WOULD BE AMAZING 

Its ok if you can't donate, but asking everyone to please share the story and the campaign. 

A COMMUNITY OF ANGELS HAVE COME TOGETHER...I LOVE YOU ALL

Joshua just sent me this text. This is the note I rolled up with the money I gave them the first day of meeting them. God bless these people.
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IF ANYONE HAS A JOB PROSPECT FOR JOSHUA EMAIL HIM AT : [email redacted]

I spoke with Joshua this morning and is ready to work ASAP. The family wants to stay in L.A. Please help make this happen.

<3 WE ARE DOING THIS ALL THE WAY ~ JOB, HOUSE, ...ALL OF IT !!! <3
Everyone who has contributed in donating and sharing this campaign is taking part in bringing heaven to earth for this family <3

When we asked Joshua what his work skills are, he replied :
Carpentry, landscaping, house keeping, ranch hand, car detail, tele marketing, great with numbers/math, science, Sunday school teacher. He even said in that same text that he will donate his time free or non profit work.