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Montana teen receiving recognition for good deed

Russ and Josiah
Josiah Hale
Russ Earl
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HAVRE - On a recent Saturday morning, there was no snow in the driveway at Russ Earl's home in Havre.

But if there was you might have seen 15-year-old Josiah Hale shoveling it.

He did that recently out of the kindness of his heart and it's earning him a lot of praise.

"I used one of their shovels and I got all of this," Hale said, standing in Earl's driveway, recalling how he shoveled it.

The home is on Hale's paper route. He shoveled the driveway and the front porch over three days.

Josiah Hale
Josiah Hale

"I was just, like, 'I'm going to do this,'" Hale said. "I just saw that it needed to be done and I knew if it sat too long, and if it snowed again, it'd get worse and it's going to be harder for whoever had to do it."

"It was almost to the top rail, (a) snow drift all the way across," Earl said, describing how the snow was piled up on the porch.

Earl and his wife live at the home. The first day Josiah shoveled just happened to be the day Russ had knee surgery.

His wife was the first to notice the shoveling.

"She went out that night and goes 'Somebody shoveled from the street to our porch here,'" Earl recalled.

Russ Earl
Russ Earl

He wasn't sure who did it. He thought it might have been the kids who live next door, but two days later he found out who it was when he saw Hale shoveling.

"I said 'You don't have to do this.' He goes 'Well, I think there's something wrong because you usually have it shoveled. So I thought I'd just help out a little bit," said Earl.

Earl posted about the good deed on Facebook.

"I think I got 600 thumbs up and hearts and I had over 50 comments in there, just all so special," Earl said.

Russ and Josiah
Russ Earl thanks Josiah hale for shoveling the snow off his driveway and porch

Hale is trying to stay humble.

"It feels good, but I can't let the pride get to me," said Hale.

When asked what message he hopes his shoveling sends to anyone who sees someone in need, his answer was simple.

"Help them," Hale said.

This is not his only good deed recently. On Valentine's Day, he took the time to shovel someone else's driveway.

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