Friends of Joshua House Foundation, Inc.

Have you purchased your tickets for the LAMPLighters Fall into Fashion 2024! This highly anticipated luncheon will give you a peek into the newest fashion trends while helping the homeless and foster children at Metro Ministries and Joshua House. To register or sponsor, please visit, https://lnkd.in/engFZ9JQ

Bay Hope Church has partnered with us for a program called “Live Out Loud.” This was their kickoff activity and SO MANY kiddos had a marvelous time meeting this wonderful group of women and men. They enjoyed a delicious nacho bar for dinner with all the fixings and THEN had a special treat for dessert. I mean, who really says no to ICE CREAM?!

Join the LAMPLighters Tampa for Fall into Fashion 2024! This highly anticipated luncheon will give you a peek into the newest fashion trends while helping the homeless and foster children at Metro Ministries and Joshua House. To register or sponsor, please visit, https://lnkd.in/engFZ9JQ

Earlier this summer, we were thrilled to be nominated for the 2024 Best of Florida Awards! During the campaign every vote for us counted, and you cast yours. We are very happy to announce that Friends of Joshua House Foundation is one of the Best of Florida Winners!!!! Your support means the world to us and we thank you for helping Friends of Joshua House Foundation bring home the win!❤

So, this was a super fun activity for our kiddos, who had tremendous guidance by one of the amazing volunteers who had previously worked at Domino’s Pizza! He got official Domino’s dough and toppings, along with screens for cooking and Domino’s pizza boxes for their pizzas. They were thrilled in this activity. One of our younger boys said it felt like they were eating at a restaurant! 😎 This was definitely an A+ activity that our kiddos LOVED! The way our Accusoft friend could spin that dough and make it perfectly round was incredible to our younger kiddos who loved watching the process. The older kiddos also LOVED this activity because it meant they had a pizza all to themselves that THEY created. 😁 As usual, Accusoft, a software developing company, made this activity so much fun for the kiddos who reside at Joshua House. Oh! And everyone raved about how great the pizza tasted. 🍕

Crystal Hoecker from Accusoft is really engaging with our kiddos during Reading Buddies. Her daughters asked about the volunteer work she does here at Joshua House, and they wanted to get involved too. So they decided to set up this lemonade stand, raising $34 for books for our kiddos. It is so wonderful to see kiddos express empathy for others.

We had THE most FABULOUS time with Amanda and her team from Apollidon Learning, an Educational Consultant firm in Hillsborough County. Our Resource Manager, Nanci March, coordinated with Amanda to provide a special gift for every kiddo we have on campus. Amanda and her team started shopping away, and were able to bless each and every one of our kiddos with the EXACT hoodie they asked for. Amanda and her amazing team were blown away at some of the reactions our kiddos had in response to their kindness. They also provided a taco bar for the kiddos from Tijuana Flats. It was super yummy 😋 We all had the honor to witness a very touching and personal thank you from one of our younger kiddos, who just melted into his hug. He didn’t let go for quite some time, and just continued to receive love from this wonderful organization. There aren’t enough words to describe their generosity.

We had students from Concorde Career Colleges who are studying to be dental hygienists come to Joshua House for a super fun activity about dental health! Our kiddos got to play with models of fake teeth and could even pull the teeth out. 😲 It was super cool! They also learned how to best brush their teeth and for how long - just 2 rounds of singing “Happy Birthday” in their heads. Or out loud. 😂 The kiddos’ favorite part, though, were the plaque disclosing tablets. They basically dissolve in your mouth and show where all the plaque is before brushing your teeth. As you can see, they turn pink and show which parts of their mouths where they aren’t brushing enough. They LOVED showing off all the pink mouths they had because they are kids and that’s what they do!

Honey's Mini Therapy Adventures is quite exceptional in the services they provide to our kiddos. We were so excited to see Rocket and Dumpling on their most recent visit!!! Rocket definitely gets a lot of attention due to his beautiful colorings. But that doesn’t matter as much to our kiddos! They just want love from any of the mini horses; the kiddos love to just sit with them and brush them, and hug them, and braid their manes and tails. Such simple connections can mean the world to our kiddos.

Our young kiddos LOVE the tech series workshop, which is supported by Computer Coach. They work on skills training, while also having FUN. So far, they have taken a computer apart to look at its “guts,” have used circuit boards to make propellers fly and other things that light up, and have had the opportunity to work with Adobe Creative Suites and Canva. They definitely showed their talents and are still learning all aspects and components of computers, technology, AI….and the list goes on.