8-year-old girl from Crown Heights aims to change the world through social advocacy
EAST FLATBUSH, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Feeding the hungry, helping the homeless and supporting children that have been abused - those aren't the aims of a major non-profit, they're the achievements of a young girl from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, who wants to change the world.
From a street corner in East Flatbush to a park next to the White House, Jewel Alexis-Josey, the founder of Love Wins, is on a mission.
The eloquent 8-year-old from Brooklyn is passionate about spreading love and will do just that Saturday at an annual gathering in Washington, D.C.
"God told me to make a change in the world, the world I live in is full of hate and so I want to make a change in that so people will learn to love each other," Alexis-Josey said.
That deep sense of faith is a cornerstone in her tight-knit family.
Alexis-Josey's parents told Eyewitness News reporter Kemberly Richardson that they knew their youngest of six was extraordinary before she could barely talk.
"Either she was praying, preaching or singing, one of the three," Jewel's father Jerome Josey said.
She was spreading the word of God even to kids in day care.
"Adults would bow down before her to get coverage, teachers, people on the street, I always had to walk with something to anoint somebody," Jewel's mother ShalleAnn Alexis-Josey said.
Jewel was just five when she started Love Wins. Her organization holds clothing and food drives and works with kids in Grenada.
She says the biggest issue facing this country right now is crime, knifings and shootings.
This will be her third trip to the White House Prayer For Our Nation organized by community activist Reverend Terry Lee. President Joe Biden is one of many who recognizes her greatness.
The sky's the limit for the young lady, who is wise beyond her years.
"Just be a light in this dark world, walk in her purpose," ShalleAnn Alexis-Josey said.
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