Sandy Himsl’s 10-year-old son Zechariah struggles with autism and developmental disabilities. He is homeschooled at their Montana home and doesn’t have any friends. Last year, when Sandy planned a birthday party for him, Zechariah thought it would be cool if his peers could each bring a Lego piece to the party so he could use their combined Legos to build something awesome, and send a picture of it into Lego’s magazine. At his birthday party last August, Zechariah’s family was all there and ready to celebrate, but none of his peers showed up and there were not enough Legos for his creation. Naturally, this broke Sandy’s heart.

To avoid a similar scenario this year, Sandy got a little Facebook proactive. And even though her family is now under really tight financial restraints, she was determined to make her son’s birthday this year extra special — with or without friends.

So Sandy posted a note on Facebook asking her FB friends if they’d be willing to send over a little note and one Lego piece. Her goal was to get 50 Legos so Zechariah could build a castle. They ended up with enough Legos to build an entire kingdom.

Here is the request she posted on Facebook:

After only nine days, the Facebook post was shared 15,000 times, and the family has now received hundreds of packages from all over the world. That’s a lot of people willing to help make the birthday celebration of a boy they’ve never met really special.

The outpouring of love and support has been tremendous. Here’s what Sandy wrote on her Facebook a few days after her initial post.

Sandy also responded to the outpouring of kindness more fully on her blog:

Zechariah has gotten way more out of his mom’s viral Facebook post than just Legos — he has found a global community of friends, and gained a whole lot of self-confidence in the process. When news outlet Flathead Beacon asked Zechariah how he felt about what was going on he said, “I feel proud.” So do we.

Since the response to her Lego request has been so overwhelming, Sandy and family are planning a huge bash for Zechariah — this year, they are pretty sure a whole lot of people will show up. It’s grown so large, in fact, that they need a permit to have the party. They’ve set up a GoFundMe page for anyone who’s interested in donating to the cost of a permit. Oh and we forget to mention, Lego caught wind of the situation and is sending some Legos too.

We absolutely love this story and we hope Zechariah has the best birthday ever!