BOISE, Idaho — For one Boise woman, what started off as just a way to have some holiday fun turned into a much bigger way to give back to the community this Christmas.
Michelle Garcia of Boise wanted to spread some Christmas joy this year by dressing up as one of her favorite Christmas movies, The Grinch.
She started by just riding around her neighborhood on a moped, then doing house calls to take photos with people’s children, but Garcia then got the idea to use the money she earned to give back to people in need.
“The Grinch is my favorite movie. I love it and this was my son's idea. My older son was like ‘mom that would be so funny just to go around on your moped and do this and I was like ‘yeah, let's do this,” Garcia said.
So, what started off as just a moped ride around the neighborhood for Garcia turned into something bigger.
“I started riding around just the neighborhood doing it and I was like you know I could do house calls and maybe scare some kids who have been naughty all year,” Garcia said.
Families around the Treasure Valley started to reach out over Facebook to give their kids a house call from The Grinch.
“There's a lot of kids that will run and they will hide, and I have to take my mask off and go to them because I don’t want to traumatize the child,” Garcia said.
Garcia decided while this was fun, she also wanted to give back.
“Families can get their family photos from this, and I can do donations to help families out there that are in the cold. There's a big community out there that’s homeless right now with this pandemic and I would like to get at least one or two families off the street for the holidays,” Garcia said.
So far, she’s raised over $300 to give back to a family who needs it.
“I plan on doing this every year to see what we can do. for Easter, I plan on being the Easter rabbit,” Garcia said. “Merry Christmas to all you families out there and The Grinch couldn’t do that without the communities' help.”
On Saturday, you can find The Grinch at JUMP (Jack s Urban Meeting Place) in downtown Boise offering more families photos, candy and collecting more donations to give to families in need of a warm place to spend the holiday. She will be there from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
