A 12-year-old Worcester boy makes hundreds of Easter baskets for homeless children

WORCESTER, Mass. — Josh Sowden is busy going through boxes and boxes of donations filled with toys.

He plans to make hundreds of Easter baskets for homeless children in the Worcester area.

“I feel like every holiday every kid should have an important memory, it doesn’t have to be, oh I got the latest thing, I feel like it should be spending time with their family,” said Josh Sowden.

Josh is just 12 years old, and he came up with this idea all by himself four years ago after visiting his own family in a shelter.

“We went to help my sister move out of the shelter right before Easter and we were making a basket for my nephew and he had asked, are these kids going to have Easter?” said Crystal Sowden, Josh’s stepmom.

So the donations grew every year by word of mouth.

Last year Josh helped make 175 Easter baskets for local shelters, and he plans to top that number this year.

“We’re so impressed that he continues every year to want to make it bigger and bigger,” said Sowden.

Josh says this year his goal is to donate 250 Easter baskets to local shelters.

Right now their family room is already packed with hundreds of donations from around the country.

“It’s definitely grown like wildfire this year,” said Sowden.

The Sowdens are extra thankful for the support, especially after a tough year.

“Last year right after we delivered the baskets, we became homeless and we were in a hotel from the end of April to the week before Christmas,” said Sowden.

So Josh and his family know firsthand how nice it’ll be for so many kids to get these baskets.

They’ll include not only toys and treats, but also essentials like baby shampoo.

“It makes me feel really happy,” said Josh.

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