Wayne Eubanks was very confused when he opened the front door and found dozens of packages stacked on the porch.
It was the day of his son's tenth birthday. The family, which homeschools the boy because of his speech disorder, wasn't expecting many kids to show up for the party– or gifts piled on the doorstep.
"I called my wife and said, ‘I don't know what's going on. There's 50 or 75 packages at the garage door,'" Wayne told WDBJ News.
As it turned out, those gifts for Camden had poured in from as far away as China and Brazil–and toy company Mattel sent a box full of fun, too.
All Camden wished for was a birthday party with few friends and a water balloon fight, but his mother didn't want him to be disappointed if no one showed up, so she put an open invitation on Facebook with the family's address, for anyone who wanted to come.
I know all kids should learn disappointment in life- but sometimes other kids are so cruel. Camden is turning 10 on...
Posted by Camden's 10th Birthday Party- An Open Invitation on Sunday, June 28, 2015
I know all kids should learn disappointment in life- but sometimes other kids are so cruel. Camden is turning 10 on...
Someone—the Eubanks don't know who—had posted the invitation to Reddit, and by the day of the party, Facebook post had logged 5,000 ‘Likes'.
Nearly 300 people showed up in rural Troutville, Virginia for the party — many of them strangers who drove for hours just to do something nice for Camden.
The boy and his friends, old and new, dined on hot dogs and a six-tier birthday cake, and they stayed cool thanks to the local fire department that provided a shower of water over the party.
And Camden got his water balloon fight — with hundreds of people and 2,000 water balloons.
"He was just beside himself," Camden's grandmother, Kathryn Sowers said. "He had the best time."
(WATCH the WDBJ News video) — Photo: Camden's 10th Birthday Party, Facebook — Story Tip: Jim Kelly
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