By Diane Dobry
COBLESKILL — Someone has been leaving small bags of inspirational gifts and notes almost every day around Main Street in Cobleskill, offering words of encouragement for whomever may find and claim them. Some gifts are key rings, others may be snowflake-shaped ornaments, with positive messages such as, “You matter,” and “You’re awesome!”
The Secret Santa who prepares these treats is, surprisingly, a 9-year-old homeschooled boy named Joshua Walrath, whose mother Holly Shaw helps him in his quest, taking him to Main Street to leave his gifts and writing “Please take” on the bag so people know it is there for whoever finds it. In today’s world, this effort to lift up others with meaningful words that some of us (most of us?) need to hear, is not widespread, at least not without a social media platform attached.
Why does he do this? “People are going through hard times, and I want to make them feel they are not forgotten,” Joshua says.
His mother adds that her son has always wanted to help others, and, in fact, he asked Santa to donate to homeless people. It is not, she says, part of his homeschooling assignments. “It is just him wanting to be a kind kid—he has a big heart.”
It all started when an apartment on Main Street in Cobleskill, near Joshua’s home, burnt down. The event worried Joshua at the time, and afterward, he wanted to let the people whose apartment burnt down to know that they matter, Holly said.
Though he has not been doing this for publicity, he has been featured on the Cobleskill Community Facebook page with photos showing his latest gift location, or some special treats he prepared for events like the 4th of July parade, when he gave out flags to random bystanders, to the Cobleskill Fire Department, and to the Richmondville fire truck in the parade.
When Immortal Championship Wrestling came to the Sunshine Fair in Cobleskill this past summer, Joshua gifted 50 wrestlers with individual banners he made by hand using tie-dyed cloth and waterproof markers with each wrestler’s name on it.
“The wrestlers were shocked,” Holly said. “One put it as his profile picture holding the banner.”
Another time, while walking with his mother, Joshua saw a man looking for bottles to cash in. He appeared to be homeless, Holly said. Joshua went up to him and gave the man $5, the last of his allowance money.
The posts on Cobleskill Facebook pages featuring Johsua leaving gift bags around town earned him more than 600 likes, and business owners took notice. Mineral Springs Soaps in Cobleskill, which frequently donates their products to charitable organizations, offered Joshua some samples to include in his gift-giving efforts.
Tim Purcell, owner and operator of Grapevine Farms also saw a post about Joshua’s activities and was touched by the young boy’s kindness to his Cobleskill neighbors.
“I was scrolling through and saw that, and I said, ‘How brave that somebody so young understands about giving and what it means to people,” Tim said. “I thought, what a great little guy to be able to not expect anything back, while encouraging people to do what they can to be happy and go forward.”
Impressed with Joshua’s generosity, Tim invited him and his mother to Grapevine Farms for lunch to talk about what inspired Joshua to give to others and to offer his encouragement to Johsua to keep doing what he was doing. And, although Joshua does not expect anything in return other than to make people happy, Grapevine Farms presented Joshua with a gift. But not before Joshua offered Tim a card addressed to The Wonderful People of Grapevine Farms, with a handmade gift of wood painted with the words: “Grapevine Farms, You never know what kind of friends you’ll meet,” along with little tokens, pins, keychains and candy, and a message “to follow your dreams.”
“I just love that he leaves these around for people in little gift bags,” Tim added. “When I was eight or nine years old, I was a meathead eating paste,” he joked.
Wanting to buy a little something to show Joshua appreciation for his efforts to show that kindness matters, Tim, on behalf of Grapevine Farms, presented Joshua with a virtual reality headset—an exciting surprise that Joshua got to enjoy.
Holly stressed that they want to continue to leave these surprise packages for more people, all year long—not just for the holidays, which kept him busy these past few weeks. So, keep your eyes open, there may be a package on Main Street in Cobleskill waiting for you to find it!
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