Friday, November 27, 2015

2015 HALO Awards Honoree Spotlight: Joshua Williams, "Joshua's Heart Foundation"

14-year old Miami Beach, Florida resident Joshua Williams is one of the four inspirational recipient's of the 2015 Nickelodeon HALO Awards for his work in the community! Joshua's commitment to eradicate hunger started with a roadside donation to a starving man when he was four and a half years old. Through William's organization, Joshua's Heart Foundation, he designed a food distribution system in local churches, schools and community centers, and continues to raise awareness of hunger and poverty at speaking engagements.

"We have food drives and we have food distributions where we help people in our community," Williams said. His foundation has over 6,000 youth volunteers and has distributed over 1.1 million pounds of food in South Florida, Jamaica and Africa to date, and helped feed over 50,000 people nationwide.


Like the three other honorees, Williams found out that he was selected for the HALO Awards by a drone which delivered the message. "I was just skateboarding in the park and all of a sudden this drone came down and surprised me," he said.

Universal Orlando Resort will also be featured as part of the 2015 Nickelodeon HALO Awards for the first time in the history of Nickelodeon's community service recognition special.


A portion of the 2015 Nickelodeon HALO Awards filmed at Universal Orlando Resort Nov. 7, including appearances by Nick Cannon and a performance by alternative rock band Walk The Moon. The show will air Nov. 29, at 7 p.m. across Nickelodeon, TeenNick, Nicktoons, TV Land, CMT, Nick.com and the Nick App.

The show and organization honors teenagers that are making a difference in their communities. The HALO Awards, which is an acronym for "Helping And Leading Others," airs Sunday at 7 p.m. across Nickelodeon USA, TeenNick, Nicktoons, TV Land, CMT, Nick.com and the Nick App.

"There's no feat too big or too small when you think about actually helping your community," said host, creator and executive producer Nick Cannon. "All of these amazing honorees that we have with us right now come from different walks of life and actually have their own mission and their own passion and that's the beauty of HALO."

The Universal Orlando segment of the show was recorded on Saturday 7th November 2015 and featured a performance from alternative rock band Walk the Moon.

"One of the greatest things that has come from this amazing couple of years for us is that we found we have a really incredible fan base with young kids and families," lead singer Nicholas Petricca said. "Having a positive message and having a positive impact is important to us, in addition to just playing music for fun."

The 2015 HALO Awards will also feature performances by Fifth Harmony, DNCE with lead singer Joe Jonas, Flo Rida and Tori Kelly. Justin Bieber will be presented the first-ever HALO Hall of Fame Award for his work with Make-A-Wish foundation. Those segments were recorded at New York's Pier 36 on Saturday 14th November 2015.

In addition to the surprise concert by Walk the Moon, the four honorees had time to enjoy Universal Orlando Resort.

It was Williams' first visit.

"We rode some roller coasters, met Optimus Prime and saw a parade," he said. "It was a really good time."

Watch Joshua Williams, along with his fellow HALO Awards honorees - Ethan Cruikshank, 16, Mechanicsville, Virginia, Riley Gantt, 15, Sherman Oaks, California, and Ruchita Zaparde, 18, Plainsboro, New Jersey - receive their honors at the must-see concert event of the season, the 2015 HALO Awards, hosted by Nick Cannon, premiering Sunday, November 29th at 7pm (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon USA, TeenNick, Nicktoons, TV Land, CMT, Nick.com and the Nick App! For more information about the 2015 Nickelodeon HALO Awards and Joshua's work, visit nick.com/halo-awards and joshuasheart.org. Congratulations to all Nickelodeon HALO Awards honorees!

You can watch a exclusive interview with Nick Cannon and the honorees of the 2015 Nickelodeon HALO Awards at Universal Orlando Resort here on OrlandoSentinel.com!
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