Student Inspires Community to Buy Gift Cards
Writer/Matt Keating
Joshua Newton, an eighth grader at Westfield Middle School, truly cares about his friends, and goes out of his way to help them.
Joshua, the January Student of the Month, has strongly demonstrated community leadership, and what it means to really be a good friend to friends who greatly appreciate him.
Joshua was also able to get his classmates at Westfield Middle School heavily involved in a very worthy project that provided comfort and inspiration to a good friend and his family.
Joshua’s mother, Lindsey Newton, said when Joshua received some sad news about a friend’s sibling, he came up with a great and noteworthy idea. It was also an idea that inspired Westfield residents to dig into their pockets for a very worthy cause.
“Joshua found out about a cancer diagnosis of his friend Lincoln Hoffman’s youngest sister, Londyn, so he coordinated $5 Starbucks gift card donations from his classmates to be used to give out to Londyn’s healthcare workers as thank you’s,” Lindsey says. “Londyn has Rhabdomyosarcoma (a rare type of cancer that forms in soft tissue).”
Joshua’s wonderful and kind gesture was an overwhelming success. He was able to convince a great number of people to buy the Starbucks gift cards. He’s displaying great leadership qualities at an early age.
“He sold almost 500-1,000 of the cards, which have been special tokens for the Hoffman family to give to Riley nurses and healthcare workers as appreciation,” Lindsey says. “It’s a way that the Hoffman Family could pay it forward to everyone coming in contact with Londyn!”
The Starbucks gift cards were also a unique way to show support for a good friend, and also get different individuals involved. People in Westfield have really stepped up to show their support for the hard-working healthcare providers.
Joshua was also looking out for friends in need by getting his class fired up to really help out.
“Knowing the Hoffman family were going through a lot, and being able to know they had support from their friends, Joshua wanted to make sure Lincoln, Londyn’s brother, felt the support too. He was able to rally his teammates together to show that support to Lincoln,” Lindsey says.
Sponsored by Wittler Orthodontics
