When none of the kids invited to a young autistic boy’s birthday party showed up, the Osceola County Sheriff’s office and a community of strangers worked together to give him the best celebration ever.
According to WKMG, Glenn Buratti was turning 6 years old and had invited all the kids in his class to his party. His mother, Ashlee Buratti, said he was devastated on the day of his party when no one showed up.
“To see the look on his face killed me inside,” she said. Glenn was so upset, he even refused to smile.
Buratti turned to Facebook and expressed how bad she felt for her son. “I know this might be something silly to rant about, but my heart is breaking for my son,” she wrote on her post. “He keeps asking ‘when will my friends get here?’”
CBS News reported that Buratti’s post caught the attention of complete strangers, who responded and shortly after showed up with their kids and bearing gifts.
The Osceola County Sheriff’s office near her house found out about the dilemma and decided they wanted to do something as well to brighten Glenn’s day. In addition to deputies bringing the 6-year-old a bunch of gifts that they all pitched in for, they also orchestrated a flyover from the sheriff’s helicopter.
“One of our friends put him up on their shoulders and Glenn was smiling the whole time and waved. It was amazing,” Buratti said.
The sheriff’s department gave Glenn another surprise the next week as well by stopping by with patrol cars and police dogs.
Buratti said she can’t believe one post on her Facebook account commanded such an overwhelming response.
The celebration did not end there. The next week, the fire department brought a fire truck by Glenn’s house.
Buratti described it, saying “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 are here to tell you happy birthday.’”
“The amazingness of everybody coming together for someone that they didn’t even know,” she said. “A kid that didn’t have anybody come to his birthday party. It warmed my heart.”
