Friend and Simple Street member Kevin Howard said, “[Burton] had a heart of gold and a heart for the people, but most importantly, he wanted people to know Jesus…When he found what the Lord had done for him, I think he just looked around the city and saw so much brokenness and he just tried to fix it.”
“And what Joel did, he really did in a way fix it because he brought so many diversities of churches and people together,” Howard said. “He brought them together from all over Dayton, Ohio, even places across the United States as well.”
“Anyone he met he tried to tap them into anything they needed, any resources that they needed, any connection that they would need,” said Ian Chadrick, a friend and coworker of Burton, to Dayton Daily News. “He tried to bridge that gap and get everybody connected in the city, and he loved everybody.”
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“This guy would do everything for everybody if he could,” Chadrick said. “He was one man, but the awesome part of his legacy is that he is not just one man — he has rubbed off on every single person he ever met, so now we all have the ability to be someone like Joel Burton and that’s what people should remember.”
Chadwick expressed that others involved with Simple Street will work to keep the mission of the organization alive.
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