Ashlee Buratti, of St. Cloud, Florida, had invited her son Glenn's class of 16 children to his birthday on February 8, and when no one showed up, he was devastated.
Though no one RSVP'd, Buratti and her husband John Buratti were 'still holding on to the hope that some of them would show up' to the party for her son, who has epilepsy and a mild form of autism.
'From the minute he woke up that day he wanted to know how many minutes until his friends came,' Buratti, 25, said, adding that his eyes filled with tears when he learned no one was coming.
The
mother-of-three posted on a locally run Facebook page with more than
10,000 members titled, Osceola Rants, Raves and Reviews List, to express
her frustration, according to the Osceola News-Gazette.
'I
know this might be something silly to rant about, but my heart is
breaking for my son. We invited his whole class (16 kids) over for his
6th birthday party today. Not one kid came,' she posted.
And
when other group members saw the post they sent Buratti messages asking
if they could bring their own kids to Glenn's party to celebrate.
The
message even reached staff from the Osceola County Sheriff's Office,
who asked for the family's address and said a helicopter would fly over
their St. Cloud home.
The helicopter came to the house within an hour, and the pilot flew low enough that Glenn could see him waving.
Glenn,
who loves public safety and law enforcement, was overjoyed with the
party, and his mom said that though he is usually shy, he took to his
new friends like he'd known them all his life.
'In
general, deputies have big hearts - they thought about their own kids
and wanted to make this boy happy because it was such a sad situation,'
Buratti told Today.
In total, about 15 kids and 25 adults showed up to celebrate and eat cake, give gifts to Glenn and play in a bounce house.
One woman
brought the birthday boy a bike, while others brought toys. Buratti said
one man came to the party with a camera and took pictures he later gave
to the family.
'It was just amazing. The people who came out were so awesome,' Buratti told the Osceola News-Gazette.
And
Glenn's birthday celebration didn't end on Sunday - several crews from
the Sheriff's Office and Osceola County Fire Rescue stopped by the
family's home on Wednesday.
Though
Buratti knew the crews were coming, she left it a surprise for her son
to see as they were on their way home from school.
'We
got to the stop sign by our house and Glenn was like, "The fire truck's
at our house!" I said, "It's okay, they're there to tell you happy
birthday,"' Buratti told CBS News.
They
all wished him a happy birthday, gave him tours of their fire truck,
squad cars, motorcycles and a SWAT vehicle and showered him with more
gifts.
'And
to think, all this happened because nobody showed up to his birthday,'
Buratti wrote online. 'Thank you, thank you, thank you.'
Culled from UK Daily Mail
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