Kristiina’s Garage of Blessings offers free items to those in need in her community!

Kristiina Miller knows what it is like to be down on your luck. So even when her life blossomed in beautiful ways, she wanted to give back . . .

As she got ready for bed in her Oak Harbor, Washington, house, Kristiina Miller counted her blessings.

Her daughter, Chloe, was sleeping. Her husband, Jason, was headed to bed, too. She was, for the first time in her life, surrounded by love. Yet as full as her heart was, Kristiina thought back to when she’d felt invisible. When she’d had nothing and no place to really belong.

She’d been only 11 the day she was dropped off at school and never picked up. Kristiina ended up in foster care. And when she aged out of the system, life became even harder, struggling to make ends meet, nobody to turn to for guidance.

Still, Kristiina graduated from high school. She found a good job as a property manager. She fell in love and built this beautiful home. This beautiful life.

I’m so lucky. But there are so many people still despairing and struggling, she thought. And more than ever, she wished to help . . .

Miracle in a garage

Then

one day, Kristiina was helping a woman in her town clean out her garage.

“I can’t believe all the perfectly good things we’re throwing away!” she said.

There were dishes. Household appliances. Camping gear and bins upon bins of gently used clothing and toys. Somebody in need could use these things! Kristiina thought.

So instead of throwing the items in a dumpster, she hauled them to her own garage. Then, she snapped pictures and posted them on Facebook with the message: Come and shop for free!

The next morning, Kristiina opened her door to see a line! There were single moms, veterans, homeless folks . . .

“I can really take this?” they asked, incredulous and thankful. And soon, something even more magical happened: As word spread, people began dropping off donations!

It must be a sign to keep the “store” open! Kristiina thought. And when one “shopper” remarked, “This is like a garage of blessings!” Kristiina decided to make it permanent. And the Garage of Blessings (The Garageofblessings.com)

was born.

Blessings all around!

A terrible divorce had left Jayme and her four children with virtually nothing— until a neighbor introduced her to Garage of Blessings. “Because of you, my kids don’t have to go without,” she told Kristiina, through tears. But even more than material things, Kristiina and her volunteers took time to talk— and really listen—to Jayme. “The Garage became a sanc- tuary for me, helping me focus on moving forward in my life,” Jayme recalls.

Mom Annabel Forrest works as a nanny, but living paycheck to paycheck often meant her two children had to wait for new clothes.

So when she learned about Garage of Blessings, Annabel got to take the kids shopping through the racks of like-new jeans and hoodies and shoes.

“I never once felt judged,” she beamed. “Thank you!”

For Annette Jones, already surviving on disability benefits when a devastating fire destroyed her apartment, Garage of Blessings was there to help her get back on her feet.

“How will I ever thank you enough?” she wondered. So she decided to become a Garage of Blessings volunteer.

“Becoming part of the daily miracles for others showed me that with a smile, compassion and love, anything is possible!” Annette beams.

Today, Garage of Blessings will soon be moving into a 10,000-sq.-ft. building so that it can provide even more to those in need— everything from free diapers to detergent, haircuts to homecoming dresses, groceries to an on-site peanut-butterand-jelly and coffee “bar” and even mentoring classes.

“You can feel such love within these walls!” one single mom, Sarah, marvels. And regularly, people will tell Kristiina, “I just want you to know that you literally saved my life!”

In a very real way, Kristiina feels the same.

“This place and all these people have made my heart become bigger,” she beams. “It’s easy to provide comfort to them because I’ve been in their shoes. So I just want everyone to come and be blessed!”

— Kristin Higson-hughes