An incredible 9-year-old Ohio boy has given up his prized Christmas gift in order to help buy blankets for the homeless.
Mikah Frye hatched the idea after seeing a number of homeless people in his town with no way of keeping themselves warm, family members explained to WJW-TV.
So, Mikah told his family he wanted to take back the $300 gift so he could help those who are less fortunate than himself.
“And he said, ‘Well, they’re cold,'” the boy’s grandmother, Terry Brant, recalled to Cleveland’s Fox 8. “And I said, ‘What do you want to give them, a blanket?'” That sparked an idea in Mikah that would turn into a wonderful act of festive kindness.
Incredibly, Microsoft heard about the boy’s act of compassion and arranged a surprise visit for him to Santa at Beachwood Place, a beautiful shopping mall.
“When they called and told me I was just instantly crying on the phone and I couldn’t believe it,” Mikah’s grandmother, Terry Brant, told the TV station. “What’s harder was not telling him.”
When Mikah turned up at the Mall, employees led him to an area where Santa was waiting to give him to massive bags of gifts. One of them? An Xbox!
“They went all out for him,” Terry said. “They had controllers and games. It was really nice.”
Mikah’s family further explained that they themselves had fallen on hard times a few years back. Things got so bad that they were forced to move into a shelter.
“He knew what it was like to not have a blanket at night and have to give it back,” Brant explained. “So the first thing he wanted to do was give a blanket that they could keep.”
Through his selfless act of generosity, Mikah donated 60 blankets to very the same shelter where his family previously stayed.
“Not only will they have a nice warm blanket that they get to keep, everybody will get a blanket, but they’re wrapped in Christ’s love as well as Mikah’s love,” Cathy Thiemens, the executive director of the Ashland Church Community Emergency Shelter Services, said when the shelter received the amazing gift.
The shelter also revealed that each blanket they donate to a homeless person is accompanied by a personal note from Mikah himself:
“When I was 6 years old, my Mum and I lived at the Churches. They gave me a blanket but I had to leave it. That’s why I want you to have your own blanket. Today I live in my own house and someday you will too
Your friend, Mikah.”
“It’s just amazing, it’s a blessing, Mikah is a blessing to our family and we thank you very much,” said Brant.
The Access program is an outreach that serves 30 to 35 homeless people a year. “A few years ago, we lost our home and we ended up needing help from Access,” said Sara Brown, Mikah’s mother, as reported by ABC. “He told me that he remembered not being able to keep the blanket they let him use.”
“Mikah has always been kind of different. He always thinks about other people,” Brown added. “Even at school. My mom said that she was wondering why his lunch funds were going away and found out he was buying lunches for kids that couldn’t get any.”
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“First person I gave one of his blankets to started crying, and she said, ‘Oh my gosh, this is such an instrument of hope,'” said Cathy Thiemens, executive director of the Access program.
“He’s an amazing kid.”