WILLIAMSBURG — Joshua Chamberlain Peck was only 10 years old when he passed away suddenly from a rare strain of bacterial meningitis. His family spent Christmas Day 2022 in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters (CHKD) and are honoring Josh’s memory with a holiday drive, set to kick off Oct. 5.
The Joshua Chamberlain Project began as a way for the Peck family to simply deal with their grief. Shortly after Joshua passed away, the kids in his class at Laurel Lane Elementary School started Josh’s Kindness Squad as a way to honor his memory. Each week, one class would perform random acts of kindness around the school.
“During that whole time that he was in the hospital, so many people were reaching out to us and talking about how Josh really impacted them. Every parent likes to say that their kid is special and unique, but he truly was one of a kind,” said Matt Peck, Josh’s father.
Josh was known around Laurel Lane as the third administrator. He was always volunteering in the main office, would bring lost and found items to classrooms to reunite them with their owners, and he’d skip recess and teach the kindergarteners about computers purely just because he loved technology.
“When we held his memorial service, more and more people shared these stories of how amazing this 10-year-old boy was and how much he had impacted them in such a short amount of time. It really got us thinking of what we could make of his legacy,” Peck said.
During his time in the hospital, Josh’s family received donations from CHKD ranging from Christmas presents and decorations to blankets and toys. Wanting to give back, the Peck family has started a drive to donate those same items back to CHKD for other families.
The holiday drive will kick off at the ECWAutofest on Oct. 5 at the Williamsburg Jamestown Airport, a fundraiser car show held by European Cars of Williamsburg and benefiting The Christopher King Foundation and Dream Catchers of Williamsburg. The family will have a booth set up at the festival and will be collecting toys, holiday decor, and blankets for children in the pediatric ICU.
“Josh loved cars. He liked classic cars and out of all of them, his favorite was Volkswagen beetles and vans. When he was little, we had a 1974 beetle that was yellow and he would sit in the garage and play in it. He absolutely loved it. We couldn’t think of a better place to launch his fundraiser this year,” Peck shared.
AnyTime Fitness locations in Williamsburg, Richmond, Carrollton, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach, Jersey Mike’s in Williamsburg, Pivot Physical Therapy in Williamsburg, Orange Theory in Williamsburg, Johnson, Gasink & Baxter, LLP in Williamsburg, and Printwell in Williamsburg will all be drop off sites for donations. Donation boxes will be available starting on Nov. 1.
“He would love all of this. We called him an old soul. He was very much like a little old man even at 10 years old. To be able to do this for him and honor him, he truly would love all of this,” Peck said.
For more information on the Joshua Chamberlain Project, visit its Facebook page.
