Parents of late Rocky Mount teen using annual holiday gift drive to carry on his legacy

A Rocky Mount couple is carrying on the legacy of their son, who ran an annual holiday gift drive for years before his death in April.

Joshua Moore’s family said he was a miracle baby who used his 19 years on Earth to serve others, and they’re working to keep his ministry alive.

Moore’s life didn’t start according to plan: his mother told WRAL News he was born six weeks early with an intestinal disease called necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC.

As a baby, doctors gave Moore a 5% chance to pull through.

“It was a lot, the doctors did not think he was going to make it,” Moore’s mother Samantha said. “They did not think that he would ever have a chance of a normal life.”

Moore didn’t just survive though, he thrived, enduring countless surgeries and hospital stays with a smile on his face – and a desire to spread it to others.

“He just felt like he wanted to help,” Samantha Moore said. “He had seen so many people in the hospital, other kids struggling, that maybe didn’t have a family there with them.”

When Joshua Moore was 7 years old, he told his parents he wanted to start a holiday gift drive.

Through the years, the event became a Rocky Mount institution, with Joshua’s Annual Toy Drive providing thousands of toys to families in need.

In fall 2021, Moore’s condition took a turn for the worse.

“He needed a transplant, he needed an intestinal and liver transplant,” Samantha Moore said.

Joshua spent the last three months of his life in the hospital

He died in April, still waiting for a transplant. He was 19 years old.

“He was mine and Greg’s only son, and he truly was the light of our world,” Samantha Moore told WRAL News. “A lot of people’s worlds.”

As they fought through months of grief, Moore’s parents came to a decision.

“We will always continue to do his toy drive as long as we have a breath in us,” Samantha Moore said. “And we will continue to spread his light, because that was Joshua’s passion.”

This week marked the 13th edition of Joshua’s Annual Toy Drive.

The Rocky Mount community donated enough toys to give more than 500 families a holiday they’ll never forget.

In this way, Moore’s mother says they keep Joshua’s light shining too.

“I just don’t ever want people to forget him, and maybe live their life through him,” Samantha Moore said.