“He was this guy in town that everyone called ‘Slowpoke,’” said Dana Smith, Garrett’s mother. “He’d ride his bike around town, really, really, really slow. People figured he was an alcoholic.”

On this particular day, Garrett asked his mother to stop. He hopped out of the car, walked up to the man on the bicycle and asked him, “Hey, why do you ride your bicycle so slow?”

The man replied, “Because I don’t have any brakes.”

“Garrett reached in his pocket, pulled out the only $20 that he had and gave it to the man,” said Smith, whose voice still cracks with emotion as she tells the story. “He really, truly did recognize people’s needs.”

On Oct. 21, 2006, Garrett was hit and killed by a speeding train just north of the steel bridge in Portland. To this day, said both Smith and friend John Karp-Evans, there are no clues as to what happened that night.

The 19-year-old who loved the outdoors, art and film, and helping others, was gone.

“He was in a great space when he passed,” said Smith, “as far as being a human being and having a love in his heart. All of his friends could tell stories like that.”

Another thing Garrett had was an idea. He wanted to provide a place for teens and young adults to hang out in Wilsonville, a safe place they could meet with friends, talk about issues, look for careers on the Internet, and just be themselves.

Garrett had formed a business plan, written out ideas about what he wanted and didn’t want, and was forming his game plan.

Within a week of his death, Smith decided to carry on her son’s dream by filing papers with the state of Oregon and the IRS to become an official nonprofit organization she called Garrett’s Space.

“It’s really kind of funny,” said Smith, “about why I decided to do it. I had talked to him months before, that someday we would do a nonprofit together. I had quite a different vision, but I knew we would do this together. I just felt like it was his gift to me, so it was kind of an easy decision to make.”

Garrett often visited a place in Portland called Backspace that Smith describes “like a coffee house with chess and checkers, pool tables.” It has computers and helps people log on to play games.

“Garrett wasn’t really into the computer games,” she said. “He liked that it was a place where kids could go, be who they are. It had a neat environment, very casual. There just isn’t anything like that here, no place for kids to go and be.”

Karp-Evans said that most communities lack this kind of space for young people to gather.

“What do teens do after school?” he asked. “They play sports or hang out in someone’s basement. In most communities, there’s not a gathering space.”

After Garrett died, Smith and Karp-Evans talked about the idea of Garrett’s Space. Karp-Evans agreed to join the steering committee and has helped Smith lead the effort to get the idea going.

“Garrett had a plan, it was his idea,” Karp-Evans said. “He was actually working on it before he passed. We came across his paperwork; he had all of his ideas written down. We decided to go ahead, to honor him, to continue his plan. This is something that he really wanted, and it’s needed in the community.”

Garrett and Karp-Evans were introduced to each other when Garrett was still in high school.

They had similar interests – skiing and snowboarding – and enjoyed being together.

“He was always smiling, and I was always smiling,” he said. “He always wanted to make someone laugh, or make them smile. He was always trying to help other people. I don’t know why, I guess it was that feeling he got inside himself, that personal reward.”

Garrett motivated his friend to be a better person, to try harder and to do more things for other people.

Smith said that if her son saw someone on the street with a sign, he wouldn’t let it go. He’d beg his mother until she gave in. They would head for the nearest drive-thru and buy the person something to eat.

“’Mom, all they’re asking for is food,’ he would say. That was just his way,” said Smith. “He just saw the need, and I don’t know how, at age 19, he would be thinking that way. It just makes me so proud of him. He really had the most caring, generous heart.”

Despite the many hours of work to put Garrett’s Space together, Smith said she sees no other way.

“There’s no doubt that I feel divinely guided,” she said. “It feels like there are angels helping us out.”

One example is a nonprofit development consultant donating her time to help Garrett’s Space find a location in Wilsonville.

“She’s donating her time for us,” said Smith. “So are the board members, the kids that are dedicating their time, it’s a tremendous amount of help, and we’re asking them to do what they can do. I feel like there’s a lot of work, which is part of the joy of the process. But I feel like it’s going to come together easily. It’s something that’s bigger than me.”

Karp-Evans noted similar reasons.

“Why am I doing this? For one, for Garrett. I love Garrett to death, and it’s something that meant a lot to him. My other part, I’m going to school to become a counselor, and something I enjoy is working with people, especially youth. It’s close to me in both of those ways. I get a personal connection with it.”

Garrett’s Space remains in its early stages. Smith needs to find a location, the board is writing its mission statement, developing a logo and writing grants. She is particularly looking for someone who might be willing to become a partner in this endeavor or who might be willing to donate a space and form a partnership.

They are looking for volunteers, particularly high school students and young adults who want to get involved, volunteer their time and ideas, and contribute to the project.

“We’re very aware that we can’t be the group of adults making decisions about this,” said Smith. “If there are kids in the community, whether they know Garrett or not, we’re very interested in them. There will be opportunities as we’re building the facility, opportunities for manual labor, but also in planning because we want to do events toward the demographics that will be using the facility.”

She’s also looking for community and business support.

“Garrett was in the process of doing this himself,” she said. “This is not my idea at all. I’m just so proud of him, of what he envisioned, and what he wanted to do in the community. He was in the process of putting together the plan and implementing it. After he passed, I picked it up and continued.”