Stranger surprises 4-year-old twins with puppy after finding wishlist tied to balloon over 500 miles away

By Darby Jones April 28, 2021
In December, 4-year-old twins from Kansas released star-shaped balloons with their holiday wish list attached for Santa. A stranger found the list over 500 miles away, and surprised the girls with a puppy.

As a way to brighten the darker days of the pandemic, Leticia Flores-Gonzalez allowed her four-year-old twin daughters, Luna and Gianella, to make more arts and crafts.

The twins released a set of red balloons from their yard in Liberal, Kansas back in December as their way of sending Christmas wish lists to Santa. The balloons made it all the way to Alvin Bamburg of Shreveport, Louisiana as he was hunting.

This discovery led to the twins receiving everything on their Christimas list. The twins’ mother, 37, said she is still stunned by strangers’ generosity.

The idea for the wish list balloons came from family relatives in Mexico. “I took a picture of their letter because I never thought we’d see it again,” said Flores-Gonzalez. “It was super windy and cold. I didn’t expect it to go any further than Liberal.

Two days before Christmas, Bamburg was deer hunting in Grand Cane, Louisiana when he spotted the red balloon. He found a note attached to the balloon that said a little girl from Kansas had been a good girl all year and wanted a Disney “Frozen” doll and a puppy.

Bamburg shared his findings to Facebook in a post that garnered over 220 shares. He located the little girl within 24 hours.

Flores-Gonzalez was unsure about how to respond. “I felt bad. I didn’t want gifts. I didn’t do it for that purpose,” she said. “My sister and family told me it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Finally, after we spoke for a while, they convinced me to go ahead and get ahold of Alvin.”

Bamburg shipped several boxes of gifts to the family, and said he just had to get the puppy. Flores-Gonzalez and Bamburg met in Oklahoma City to surprise the girls with their new furry friend, Max.

The new family friends communicate almost daily and have plans to meet up again in May. “There’s so much depression, so much sadness going on. Some people are losing their families because of this pandemic,” Flores-Gonzalez said. “This gives us hope there’s so many wonderful people still on this Earth.”