In 2011, Dustin Smiley left his family for a yearlong deployment. He said goodbye to his wife Sarah Smiley and their three boys.
As they counted down the days til a heartwarming reunion, like the one at country singer Craig Campbell’s concert, the family found comfort in an unusual way.
They invited strangers over for dinner to sit in Dustin’s seat until he returned. And people (some of them are well-known figures) willingly showed up every single night for a year. What these people did during Dustin’s absence shows that Good Samaritans do exist. (If you need more proof, just follow TV host Leon Logothetis’ #GoBeKind tour!)
Mrs. Smiley later wrote about the experience and released the 2013 book, Dinner with the Smileys: One Military Family, One Year of Heroes, and Lessons for a Lifetime.
“But Dinner with the Smileys isn't really about dinner. And it's not about the military. It's about 250 strangers who came together to help raise three boys (one of the cusp of adolescence) in the absence of their father. It's a love story about marriage, motherhood, and the power of community,” the book’s description reads.
Watch below to see several moments from the year Dustin was gone.
And please SHARE if you are touched by what these strangers did!
