DETROIT – This is one of those stories that will give you hope.
A family from Swartz Creek, Michigan, lost their father, Kyle Cass, earlier this year to brain cancer.
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Kollin and Keegan Cass, the two young children, wrote a letter "To Daddy in Heaven," a message tied to some helium-filled balloons, and let loose into the sky.
The letters were sent on Father's Day this year. Two days later, the package landed in the backyard of Heather and Tim Wilcox in Petrolia, Ontario, about 175 miles away.
CBC News Windsor reports the Ontario family was touched by the letter and immediately began looking for ways to connect with its authors.
They eventually found Samantha's, the mother, Facebook page and sent her a message.
Upon receiving the message, Samantha Cass posted to her Facebook page:
I am speechless (which doesn't happen often). I just received a facebook message from a woman in Ontario, Canada that said our balloons and envelope landed on her back porch. She and her husband were deeply touched by it and so she did some digging and found Kyle's obituary online, which led her to find me. A complete stranger taking the time to reach out and offer support and condolences gives me hope for humanity.
"We felt it was important to reach out to this family because they were grieving," Heather told the CBC. "On our behalf it was a very small gesture to help a family."
Wilcox sent a large cardboard box to the Michigan Cass family filled with gifts from their "guardian angels," helpers that their father selected.
"They didn't really know at first what it was," explained Samantha. But once the children opened the box, it all came together. As soon as three-year-old Keegan found a big stuffed animal she said, "A teddy bear from daddy!"
Her brother's reaction was almost identical as he uncovered a toy replica of his late father's red car, "A Corvette, it's just like my dad's!"
"It's above and beyond to even reach out and offer support in my opinion but to then go that extra step," Samantha Cass said. "I fully believe Kyle picked this family to do something amazing for my kids."
Samantha sent the Wilcox family a video of the kids opening the package.
"We cried… We were very happy it gave them some joy and it was very touching for us to see we were able to do one small thing to help them," Wilcox said.
The two families plan to meet up next month.