A community gave two young brothers a birthday gift they will never forget after nobody showed up to their party.
Ronny Meyer’s sons, Niklaus and Kol, were celebrating their fourth and sixth birthdays on Sunday (July 16) at Diehl Park in Defiance, Ohio.
The doting father told WTVG that he wanted his boys to have a summer party so they prepared water balloons and got a cake with both their names on it.
However, despite inviting a bunch of people to attend the special occasion, Ronny revealed that not many people showed up and that really upset his children.
"It definitely hurt. Not so much on us, but it was more seeing how depressed and how much it hurt the boys," Meyer told the outlet.
According to the report, his wife, Lacey, tried to salvage the day by taking to a community group on Facebook to make an invitation post.
Lacey rallied the troops on the social media platform by declaring that people can come down to the park and enjoy food and cake with the family.
"Would anyone like to come and help us celebrate their birthdays at Diehl Park," Lacey asked in the Current Events in Defiance, OH Facebook group. "We don't have much, but we have a little bit of food and some cake."
The post started to gain traction with hundreds of comments and shares from people in the group. And before the Meyer family knew it, dozens of complete strangers, including other area parents and their kids, arrived at the park for the party.
Even the Defiance Fire Department made a surprise appearance with one of its trucks.
After the joyous day, Lacey took to the comment section to express her gratitude to everyone, writing: "Thank you everyone for all the birthday wishes and gifts and everything I can’t express how grateful we are I think this was the best birthday they have ever had."
Ronny also shared with the publication that he was "blown away" by everyone, adding: "The moment they saw the fire truck, they were beyond excited. There was someone that came out with a Spider-Man costume on, and Kol loves Spider-Man. It just made his day."
The act of kindness and compassion from strangers came when the family needed it the most, giving the two boys the birthday party of a lifetime.
"They’re still excited about it. They’re so surprised at how it all turned out," Meyer said. "My wife and I were both in tears with it because it’s nothing like what we would’ve expected."