Unlike most 12-year-olds, Mikayla Gounard said she didn’t want gifts for her birthday. Instead, she wanted to raise money for an organization, but didn’t know which one.
“When my grandma told me she lost her wallet and a gentleman returned it, I said, ‘Oh my gosh. He didn’t have to do that.’ His honesty is inspiring.”
So Mikayla invited friends and family for a drive-up birthday celebration in Tiburon, but instead of presents, she asked people to bring their wallets.
On a table in the driveway, next to candy canes and Hanukkah gelt, she placed a collection basket and a picture of Sean Currey, the homeless man who found and returned her grandmother’s wallet.
“I don’t need anything plastic,” said Mikayla, who collected close to $500 that day. “It’s better to help. To see the reaction of joy makes me really happy. That’s all I really wanted for my birthday — is to make somebody else happy.”
In addition, Mikayla’s mother, Vanessa Topper, set up a GoFundMe fundraising site to help Currey get housed. It has raised more $50,000 and garnered media attention around the world.
Currey, who had been living in his truck below an overpass in San Rafael, is now set up at the Panama Hotel.
Now Currey, Mikayla and the Topper family have a new goal. They want to use the funds to acquire land and build a tiny-home community to help other homeless people turn their lives around.
“To build tiny homes is a dream Vanessa, her husband and myself share,” Currey said. “I’ve always wanted to do that myself. I do construction and remodeling on the side through a handyman business called All American Building Maintenance.”
He said there is a lack of apartments available for homeless people in Marin, and he is not sure if they will be able to build a tiny-home community in the county. But he knows that there are people willing to help, and he wants to hire temporary workers for the project.
“We want to give people who are coming out of jail, who want to get integrated back into the system, a sense of purpose, belonging, and to be able to earn a decent living while giving back,” he said. “I don’t have a lot, but even though I have some I want to give back.”
Topper said she is not sure how they will start the project, but she plans to reach out to organizations and government officials to figure out the best course of action.
“We want to help people help themselves,” Topper said. “If we can get to that point it would be amazing. … Maybe we’ll partner with local agency. I don’t see myself starting a nonprofit, but who knows.”
Evelyn Topper, Mikayla’s grandmother, said she was surprised that the act of losing her wallet, and Currey digging it out of a garbage bin behind Kamson Coffee in San Rafael, would get the media attention it has.
“We have not promoted anything. It’s just taken off,” the Mill Valley resident said. “This good feeling is just so contagious. It happened around the holidays, but considering what’s going on in our world, especially in Washington, people are just so thankful there is such goodness and kindness out there exemplified by Mikayla.”
Vanessa Topper said the effort to help Currey and other homeless people is motivated by nothing but a desire to help people in need.
“Kindness and integrity are leading this, and if it’s not about either of those, none of us want to continue,” she said. “It’s just thinking with your heart.”
On Friday, Currey gave Mikayla a tie-dye wallet with a note that read, “Care. Love. Kindness. Compassion. Friendship. Thank you for all you and your friends have done for me and others.”
Currey said he plans to give Mikayla $5,000 of the money that was raised to spend on college or whatever she wants.
Given Mikayla’s recent history, she might very well spend the money on someone else.
“Even before my grandma lost her wallet I wanted donations to go toward an organization, but all of them were too big,” she said. “I wanted to give to someone in front of me and see their reaction.”
