Local 8-year-old’s ‘Paste and Pajamas’ helps foster care children

 Myles Garrett—an 8-year-old from Decatur—is using some of his free time during virtual learning days to make a difference in his hometown.

Myles made deliveries Aug. 27 for a project he named “Paste and Pajamas,” which he is using to supply necessities such as toothpaste and pajamas to children in foster care.

Myles didn’t just make the deliveries for the project. He said he also did the research, raised money, and wrote notes to recipients and thank-you letters to those who donated.

Kesha Garrett and Thaddeus Garrett came up with the idea, and thanked Myles’ other set of parents—Heather Henderson and Charlie Henderson—for their support.

“In the spring we were in the midst of quarantine,” said Kesha. “There were other things we wanted to stress to Myles beyond math, reading and writing. We really just want Myles to be a good conscious person.”

Kesha said she presented the idea to Myles, and Myles said he did research about homeless children and foster children in Georgia.

“I looked up how many foster kids there were in Georgia,” said Myles. “It said there are 14,000 foster kids and 3,000 homeless kids. And kids who have to go to foster care, they don’t get to bring their belongings with them when they leave.”

Myles said he researched what items were needed and found that hygiene products and pajamas would be a helpful donation.

“When foster kids have to leave a particular setting, sometimes they don’t have essential belongings,” said Thaddeus. “So, Myles looked into what’s essential and found that toothbrushes, toothpaste and pajamas, since a lot of kids don’t have pajamas.”

Myles said he called friends and family and asked for donations to help him pay for packages for foster care children.

“I called them and told them about foster care and homeless kids and asked if they could help me reach my goal of 60,” said Myles. “And they all said yes.”

Myles ultimately made 100 packages.

Myles said he packaged toothbrushes with toothpaste and pajamas into freezer bags for easy transportation and donated them through Families First.

According to Program Manager for Foster Care and Independent Living Services for Families First Troya Jackson, Families First is a 130-year-old family and children’s services organization based in Norcross, serving families across metro Atlanta, including in DeKalb County.

“We work in conjunction with United Way [in DeKalb County],” said Jackson. “We’ve had to move most of our ways of working to virtually assisting families. We’ve still been able to provide families with food donations, diapers, cell phones and computers through our partnerships. We want to get back to face-to-face work with these families.”

Jackson said Families First does several family-based donations throughout the year but also relies on donations from community members such as Myles.

“We have several types of events every year where families can donate to our adopt-a-family program,” said Jackson. “It’s extremely important for people to want to be able to give in a capacity where we can continue to serve our families.”

Kesha said Myles has made other donations in the area. Usually Myles’ donations focus on providing food for homeless people, but the pandemic is limiting donation types. Kesha said finding new ways to help—and wanting to give Myles a complete learning experience during virtual learning days—helped create the “Paste and Pajamas” project, and Myles said he is planning other projects such as “Bowls for Pets.”

“I’m giving this to dogs in dogs shelters,” said Myles. “I’m going to put a food bowl for each dog, and then I’m going to have dog food and a dog toy in the bowls.”