KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For more than six months, children have been dealing with a lot all at once: the pandemic, social injustice, changes in routines and schools reopening in a very unique way.
One little boy who saw what was happening wanted to spread a little joy.
His name is Mickey Gemeda and he's seven years old. He also knows exactly what he wants to be at a young age.
"I want to be an architect," Mickey said.
And he's already designing at a young age, putting both his architect and his entrepreneurship skills to use.
Mickey's getting help from his younger brothers and leading his first project. It's called Mickey's Mustard Seeds and it all starts with a small mustard seed.
"Everyone knows if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can tell a mountain to move and nothing is impossible," Mickey explained.
For Mickey, some of those mountains have been the events and issues of 2020.
"My mom is a retired police officer and she watches the news and so when the boys would go into her room and they would see it and Mickey was like, there has to be a way to make people happy," Mickey's mother, Christal Gemeda said.
And now he's doing just that: working to make people happy.
"I make necklaces and bracelets, and even earrings," Mickey said.
He and his helpers place small mustard seeds inside jars that read "Faith."
"Because, like Matthew 17:20 says, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can tell mountains to move and it'll move," Mickey said. "If you're sad, you can remember about God who created the world and created you."
His goal is to encourage people to have faith over fear.
What started as a fun project is now taking over.
"He started making the keychains and gave them to family and friends, and then he started to offer them to the neighbors, where he has a container outside for money and one with the necklaces and keychains," Christal Gemeda explained. "And then after that, he asked if he could make a store online."
He's spreading a lot of joy with a small reminder.
"If everyone's happy, I'm happy. So that's nice they're happy," Mickey said.
Mickey started selling across the country and is working on partnerships to sell them in local stores across the metro.
For more information on visit Mickey's Mustard Seeds online.
