SEATTLE'S MORNING NEWS

Boy gives up Xbox to keep homeless warm

Dec 20, 2017, 9:54 AM | Updated: Oct 1, 2024, 10:01 am

homeless hygiene, outreach, xbox, All Home, homelessness...

(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

For any 9-year-old an Xbox would be a dream gift. Ohio’s Mikah Frye would have received one for Christmas but decided to ask for something else.

More from Colleen O’Brien

The 9-year-old from Ohio was visiting his grandmother at her home in Ashland and she says he noticed people standing out in the cold.

He did some quick math: $300 for an Xbox could buy a lot of blankets.

So he made the call and would give up his Xbox in order to buy blankets. He handed them out and felt proud of his decision.

“Feels really good. A lot of people said ‘you did good’,” Mikah told FOX 8 News.

What we also learned about Mikah is that this 9-year-old “old soul” was able to make this decision because he knows what it’s like to stand out in the cold. He was once homeless, too.

“He knew what it was like to not have a blanket at night, to have to give it back when they gave him a blanket. And so the first thing he wanted to do was give a blanket that they could keep,” his grandma said.

Word spread fast. Microsoft heard about Mikah’s kind heart and decided he should be rewarded. He was surprised by staff at a Microsoft store near his home with an Xbox, controllers and games.

His family says Microsoft went all out for him.

You can hear Colleen O’Brien’s “Daily Dose of Kindness” segment every morning at 7:30 a.m. on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM.

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Boy gives up Xbox to keep homeless warm