A grandma who was forced to buy her own birthday cake with the tiny amount of money she had left has been showered in presents, money and goodwill by her community.
Barbara Vos was spotted celebrating her 70th birthday alone at Minto Mall in Sydney’s South West and told an acquaintance she was “feeling depressed” about her upcoming birthday, so her granddaughter decided to intervene.
Stacey McLachlan, 21, posted on Camden-Narellan Community Noticeboard asking for a “massive favour” from the locals, desperately keen to brighten her grandma’s day.
“It’s my Nan’s 70th birthday today and unfortunately I cannot be with her. My Nan is such a beautiful person and I love her immensely,” she wrote, according to The Daily Telegraph.
“She lives with her son who is not well at all and doesn’t leave the house. My grandad is in a nursing home with alcohol related dementia so she gets very lonely as you can imagine.
“She lives in a little unit in Minto and people might often see her grocery shopping at Minto Mall with the little money she has. I would be soooo happy if you could wish her a Happy 70th Birthday on this page so that I can show her all the love and birthday wishes!”
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“It breaks my heart when I was told by someone I know had bumped into her at the shops yesterday and she was saying she was feeling depressed and buying herself a birthday cake. If you could show a lonely lady some love her way, I will be forever grateful.”
All Stacey was hoping for was some comments she could show her grandma to show people care, but instead Barbara was inundated with flowers, gifts and money.
“I was not expecting that from the community,” Stacey told The Daily Telegraph.
“So many people inboxed me and a local furniture business gave her a $200 gift voucher.
“I popped over late last night — she was so overwhelmed.”
Stacey took to social media to thank those that had gone out of their way to make sure she had a good birthday.
“She is absolutely speechless and will never forget it. I gave her a call earlier on to see how her day was going and she said, ‘I just got a few visits from some really nice people on Instagram or something, I don’t even have Instagram’.”
