CODY — Chloe ODonnell, 7, almost had no one to celebrate her birthday with her when 15 invitees to her party canceled.
With one message, Cody rallied last weekend to ensure the little girl and her family knew the community has their backs.
After all the invited guests canceled, Chloe’s mother Melanie turned to Facebook to see if anyone would be willing to swing by and celebrate with them. More than 150 people reached out within 15 minutes.
“We just wanted her to feel like she had a group of people there to have fun with her,” Melanie told Cowboy State Daily. “It blew me away that so many people just showed up or wished her a happy birthday. They made Chloe feel so loved.”
None Of 15 Invitees Came
Chloe was planning to have her 7th birthday party in Cody’s Mentock Park. Around 15 people, mostly new friends in the neighborhood, had been invited.
When Sunday turned into the hottest day of the summer, with temperatures in Cody over 100 degrees, the party was relocated to Millstone Pizza Company & Brewery.
That’s when the cancellations started coming in. Everything from heat-related concerns to, in one case, a death in the family.
“When the last kid finally said that they weren't coming, we had already set up at Millstone,” Melanie said. “Our decorations were out, I’d bought this big cake, and we were all sitting in the downstairs arcade center by ourselves.”
Melanie and her four kids are new to Cody, having moved there in January. They’re still trying to establish themselves in their new home, but that’s especially difficult for Chloe.
“She has some developmental struggles and doesn’t make friends easily,” Melanie said. “She hasn’t made a lot of friends yet, and I so badly wanted her to have a great day.”
They Came Bearing Gifts
Desperate to give her daughter a happy birthday, Chloe turned to Cody Area Classifieds on Facebook. She asked if anyone with young kids wanted to come hang out in Millstone with Chloe and her siblings.
Within 15 minutes, multiple families RSVPed that they were on their way. And they came prepared.
“They arrived with gifts for her,” Melanie said. “People offered to drop off gifts for her, which I told them wasn’t necessary. It was really heart-warming.”
Melanie said responders expressed their desire to attend or send a gift so Chloe wouldn’t feel alone.
“A man from Red Lodge, Montana, messaged me and said, ‘I obviously cannot come down, but I have grandkids,’ and that really touched me,” she said.
The man sent Melanie $25 via Venmo so she could get Chloe a birthday gift.
However, one of the most touching displays of kindness came from a child who arrived for the party, Melanie said. He came with a gift that came from the heart.
“One little boy actually shopped in his room for something she might like and put it in a gift bag for her,” Melanie said. “He gave one of his own items to her. It was very sweet.”
The birthday party turned into a networking event. Many new bonds were forged, and phone numbers exchanged.
Meanwhile, dozens of people sent messages wishing Chloe the best on her birthday.
In a moment of desperation, Melanie found an overwhelming wave of friendship for Chloe and her entire family in Cody.
“The people who showed up were complete strangers, but they all acted as if they had always known each other,” she said. “The children were so sweet and well behaved. Chloe had an amazing time.”
Old And New Roots
Melanie said the last three years have been “so rough” for Chloe and her three siblings. In that time, Melanie got divorced, remarried, then lost her mother and both grandmothers.
Melanie’s new husband, “my high school sweetheart,” had been working in Cody for over a decade. The whole ODonnell family has been there for less than a year, but it already feels like a loving home.
“I’ve learned this town shows up for people,” she said. “We came from a larger city, and this is the kind of thing that would never have happened there.”
What Melanie didn’t realize until recently is that she wasn’t establishing new roots in Cody. She was rediscovering old ones.
“My grandfather told me that our family lived in Cody at one point,” she said. “My great-grandmother actually lived here in the early 1900s and moved back to the East Coast in the 1920s. I didn’t know about that connection until my second or third visit.”
In that sense, the birthday party was like a family reunion. More than anything, Melanie’s happy she got to give Chloe a memorable birthday and better bonds in her new home.
“She started making friends really fast,” she said. “It was a beautiful moment of a small town supporting each other. They are amazing, and we love this town.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
