Dozens of cops and firefighters flock to autistic boy's
birthday party after his heartbroken mom revealed
none of his classmates turned up
Found this heartwarming story on Mail Online about
how classmates of a young autistic boy refused to
turn up for his 6th birthday party and after his
heartbroken mum revealed it on Facebook, dozens of
fire-fighters, police and people in his community
turned up at his home to make it a birthday he'd
never forget. Read full story below...
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