Girl surprised by reaction to her generosity

Imagine moving into your first home — you would need furniture, pots and pans, maybe even a television.

That’s what Mykaela Garrett, 12, and her mother, Andrea, need. And then some.

The week before Christmas, Mykaela and her mother went to the 29th annual Bob Telmosse Giveaway hoping to fill some of those basic needs. But when Mykaela won something she didn’t need, a bike, she gave it away.

“I didn’t do anything,” Mykaela insisted on Tuesday. She gave it to someone whose need was greater, just as she was raised to do.

After reading about Mykaela’s gift at gazette.com, a reader decided to give a gift of her own. On Christmas Eve, Mykaela, a voracious reader, received a Sony ebook reader. Others, too, have offered to help.

Andrea and Mykaela’s wish list is a long one. But before they can afford to buy new shoes for Mykaela, or glasses for her grandmother, they need a place to live, Andrea Garrett said.

“We have a huge list of things, but hanging over all of it like an umbrella is we need a house,” she said.

When Andrea Garrett lost her job at a small carpet cleaning business in May, she and her daughter moved in with her former boyfriend in Salida. They didn’t need to worry about rent, or bring furniture, so they got rid of it all.

“We got rid of everything except my mom’s bed and a dresser,” Andrea Garrett said Tuesday.

It was when the family of three — mother, daughter and grandmother — had to leave Salida that the trouble started. Homeless, they motel hopped for a while and are now living in a relative’s cramped basement.

Andrea Garrett has been exploring the family’s options. But it’s hard to start from square one at her age, she said.

“I’m 42 and I’ve never dreamed I’d be doing this,” she said.

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