It’s better to give than receive

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT BEACH -- When tragedy struck a Yorba Linda family, first-graders

from Mariners Elementary School came to the rescue and helped pick up the

pieces.

Last month, a furnace exploded in the condominium home of Chris and Karin

Mitchell. They and their two children, Dakota, 6, and Karyssa, 5, lost

everything.

Since the fire, students in Sheri Gaeta’s first-grade class have been

collecting donations to help the family get back on its feet.

“I brought in money -- one of my own dollars and coins,” said 7-year-old

Jennifer Bieser, who said donating her money made her happy.

Students gathered toys, books, money, dishes, furniture -- you name it,

they collected it.

Thursday, those students presented the family with all they had collected

and read a poem, called “Giving,” which they had written.

“I’m overwhelmed,” said Karin Mitchell. “The poem was beautiful.”

Each child read a couple lines of the poem, which began “Giving makes me

feel happy. Giving is a very important thing to do.”

Gaeta heard about the Mitchells’ misfortune through a friend, and she

wanted to help the family and also teach her young charges about giving.

“We talked about being a neighbor and what a neighbor is. These are our

extended neighbors,” she said. “The children have been so amped, so

excited. When I told them about it, immediately some of them stood up and

said ‘I’ve got tons of things I don’t need’ and ‘I’ll go home and pack.’

”

Children may not have realized that they were learning a life lesson, but

they knew that giving to this family made them happy.

“It felt good [to give], and when they came in right now,” said

7-year-old Peter Jensen. “At first, I thought Dakota would have flat

hair, but he has spiky hair like me.”

The family accepted the gifts with tears in their eyes.

“We have good days and bad,” Mitchell said. “This was a good day because

of this.”

Gaeta reminded students that sometimes, when someone cries, it is only

because they are happy.

“Oh, look -- you’re doing it, too,” quipped 7-year-old Jason Dinn,

pointing at his teacher.

But there were no tears in the eyes of Dakota and Karyssa -- only

happiness.

When Dakota was asked how he felt, he leaned close to whisper, “Great.

Everybody’s saying compliments about me.”