Wyatt Revels lost his father in January and has received letters and gifts from caring strangers worldwide. Photo: Alysha Kyle Starling/Facebook

A little boy grieving the loss of his father is receiving love and support from strangers — including celebrities — from all over the world in the form of cards and gifts to boost his spirits.

On January 29, 4-year-old Wyatt Revels lost his father David, after he collapsed in the bathroom and died from unknown causes. According to Wyatt’s mom, Alysha Starling, the little boy has had a difficult time adjusting to life without his dad. “Wyatt wakes up crying and doesn’t want me to leave his side,” the 25-year-old stay-at-home mother from Fayetteville, North Carolina, tells Yahoo Parenting. “Sometimes he asks, ‘Can we go dig up my daddy today?’”



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Starling’s friends from Gymboree started a Facebook support group for the family and sent Wyatt T-shirts that read, “My dad is awesome” and “My dad is the coolest.” The group’s efforts gained notice online, especially after a reporter from North Carolina’s local news station WTVD put out a call for letters to Wyatt (her post was shared 12,700 times) and people from all over the world began sending care packages to the boy at a P.O. box set up by Wyatt’s mom. (If you’d like to send something, the PO Box’s full address is: Wyatt Revels, PO Box 84, Autryville, NC 28318.)

When Savanna Gulledge, a 13-year-old girl from Perry, Arkansas, recently heard about Wyatt, she created a Facebook group called “Letters For Wyatt” and rallied her classmates and teachers to participate. “Community service has always been a passion of mine and I really wanted to send something,” Gulledge tells Yahoo Parenting. “When I went to bed, the group had about 40 members and when I woke up on Saturday morning, I began crying because we had almost 1,000,” she says.

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As a result of these combined efforts, Wyatt’s received gifts from people in Belgium, Scotland, England, Australia, Brazil, Holland, and Canada. “Each time we receive a package from a different country, we put a mark on a map of the world,” Starling says. One woman in Australia sent Wyatt a large box full of cards, a stuffed penguin, magnets, and candy and a woman in Germany sent him puzzles featuring characters from a popular German cartoon.

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Wyatt Revels, surrounded by T-shirts given to him as gifts. (Letters for Wyatt/Facebook)

“We go collect the mail every day and the post office lady keeps Wyatt’s letters in a special area because the P.O. box is now too small to hold them all,” says Starling. Even celebrities have pitched in: Dog the Bounty Hunter shared Wyatt’s story multiple times on social media and Kristian Bush of the country music group Sugarland sent Wyatt a guitar pick.

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“Wyatt doesn’t understand the magnitude of what’s happening but I explain to him by saying, ‘You know when we go to the beach and you can’t see anything but ocean? The people sending you cards and gifts are beyond the ocean,’” says Starling. “He thinks that’s very cool.”

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Starling, also mom to a 5-month-old daughter named Caroline Ellise, was not married to David but the two were high school sweethearts who maintained a long-time friendship and a mutual love for their only son. “When we decided on Wyatt’s name, David took the day off from work and secretly got ‘Wyatt’ tattooed on his wrist, to prevent me from naming him something else,” says Starling.

The letters and gifts are therapeutic for Starling too because she lost her own father when she was only 11 and still cherishes the cards she received from her classmates. “I never imagined we would receive this type of support,” says Starling. “Wyatt says everyone who sends him cards is his ‘best friend.’”

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