'Bless you': Woman steps in when no one shows up on store owner's 35th anniversary celebrations
Last week, Fresno Sunrise Vitamins in California celebrated a milestone anniversary in business.
It had been 35 years since the company had opened, and owner Dave High ordered cupcakes and drinks to thank the residents that have helped keep him in business for all these years.
However, the 61-year-old was devastated when no one turned up to his celebration.
This is Dave. He owns Sunrise Health in Fresno, Ca. Today is his stores 35th anniversary and he was expecting people to come in. He bought cupcakes, soda & decorations and NO ONE showed up. I just got here and he brought everything out to celebrate. Can we get him so recongnition pic.twitter.com/MOSevdzqZE
— kayla (@kaylaaa_jackson) July 26, 2018
Thankfully, this is where Kayla Jackson, who is the wife of a security guard at the shopping centre where Dave's store is, stepped in.
The 23-year-old told CTV News what happened.
"He was just sitting there, he had this sad look on his face and he kept repeating to us, 'it's our anniversary, it's our 35th anniversary today. It's really slow; it's one of our slowest days'," Kayla said.
Using social media, Kayla rallied as many people as she could to come and congratulate Dave.
Update: Dave is so happy we had some friends come over to the shop. we are having cupcakes and smelling Essential Oils pic.twitter.com/GhjOWyEBoh
— kayla (@kaylaaa_jackson) July 26, 2018
She posted tweets, photos and the stores number on Twitter.
Soon, the tweets were going viral and Dave was getting phone calls from people in Colorado, Mexico and Hawaii.
Dave spoke to ABC Action News, and admitted that he had no clue about social media until Kayla showed him.
''I will have to look on the Internet and see what Twitter means," he said.
Me and my friends went right before the news got there! Dave was such a sweet man and I plan on returning! pic.twitter.com/Sn1cutlMm8
— ضَمَّ (@DamaSzn) July 27, 2018
The reaction on social media was phenomenal.
Tweets included; ''bless you for making this mans day and getting him the recognition he deserves for working hard'' and ''last update before Dave closed up tonight: he got multiple calls saying "congrats" on his anniversary. Then he told my husband and 'I feel so strong now! I wanna stay open for 5 more years! Thank you so much guys' My heart legit melted! Keep calling and visit his store.''
While he doesn't have a website, Kayla has said on Twitter that she might be setting up an Instagram page for him so people can see all of the amazing stuff that he sells.
This story just goes to show how powerful social media can be when it's combined with kindness.