How the Keller community showed out when no one showed up for this 5-year-old's birthday
KELLER (CBSNewsTexas.com) — Willa Fitzgerald begged her mom for a party to celebrate her 5th birthday, but when nobody showed up Saturday, the Keller community showed out.
"We started setting up and I didn't really pay attention to the time and before I knew it, it was 11:20 and I was like, 'Oh, this party started at 11,'" said Willa's mom, Alexa Fitzgerald.
Her heart dropped when she realized none of Willa's friends were coming.
"Willa was sort of waiting for her friends to arrive and nobody was showing up," she said.
But instead of packing up and heading home, Fitzgerald made one last attempt to get the party going and posted in a Keller community Facebook group, inviting kids to Willa's party.
"I really didn't want to tell my daughter that no one was going to show up to her birthday party, but that didn't happen," she said.
Asking her daughter what happened instead, Willa responded, "Everybody came!"
Fitzgerald expected one or two kids to show up and was shocked to see so many Keller residents come, gifts in hand.
"I knew that the Keller community would show up but I didn't realize to what extent," she said.
Families and kids streamed in; strangers who just wanted to make sure Willa felt loved.
"For them to stop what they're doing on a Saturday and be like, 'We are going to stop what we're doing and go straight to somebody we never met before,' it just speaks to how wonderful the community is here," Fitzgerald said.
She and her family moved to Texas two years ago, and moments like this, she said, shows them that this is where they were meant to be. "This is the Texas that everyone talks about."
Fitzgerald hopes one day her daughter will look back at this day and remember that it means a lot to just be kind.
"Showing up for somebody, even if it is a little inconvenient to you, it just means so much to other people and it really meant a lot to us today," she said.