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Cops & Firefighters "Save the Day" for a Young Autistic Boy in FL, USA

T

Tia Maria

"Be the change you wish to see in the world"
ST. CLOUD, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) -An autistic boy in Florida had an incredible birthday party, thanks to strangers and people who serve and protect. The celebration follows a bitter disappointment, the family says.

6-year-old Glenn Buratti has a lot to be thankful for. He recently scored a huge birthday surprise from sheriff's deputies and firefighters at his home in Saint Cloud. All this comes after his mom planned an earlier birthday party and not one of the 16 children she invited showed up.

"Probably one of the biggest hurts you can have, to see how let down your child is when nobody shows up for them," says Ashlee Buratti, Glenn's mother.

It was a crushing day for little Glenn. His mom vented about it on Facebook, and one week later, Glenn came home from school to see fire trucks, a police motorcycle, and even a helicopter fly over -- all belated birthday wishes.

"His face just lit up," Ashlee said. "His eyes got real big! He smiled the whole time."

These are some of the gifts firefighters and deputies brought to Glenn.

"They treated us like family," Ashlee explained. "That's all we could have asked for from anybody was just to be there for us."

Neighbors and strangers dropped off birthday gifts and hundreds of people sent greetings on Facebook. Other moms with autistic children sent thank you messages online.

"I'm very surprised," said John Buratti, Glenn's father. "It was one Facebook post, and it took off and people helping us and it was amazing."

Glenn's mom hopes there will never be another child's birthday party where no one shows up, because a child is a little different.

"Treat him like anybody else. Just love them. They've got a heart just like normal kids."

Birthday 're-do' for autistic boy after no one showed for first - Fox 2 News Headlines
 
More on the same story! :)

Heartwarming moment dozens of cops and firefighters flocked to autistic boy's birthday party after his heartbroken mom revealed none of his classmates turned up
  • Ashlee Buratti invited her son's 16 classmates to celebrate his sixth birthday
  • Glenn was devastated when he found out his classmates weren't coming
  • Mom posted her frustration on Facebook and received messages of support
  • Strangers asked if they could bring their kids to the party to celebrate
  • Osceola County Sheriff's Office heard about party and contacted the family
  • Police and firemen stopped by with gifts and gave Glenn tours of vehicles
  • Glenn, who has epilepsy and mild autism, was overjoyed with celebrations
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2962916/Osceola-County-cops-flock-autistic-boy-s-birthday-party-mom-Ashlee-Buratti-revealed-none-classmates turned-up.html#ixzz3SmxKs4Av


Florida mother’s post about autistic son’s empty birthday party brings guests, outpouring

Facebook post turns autistic boy's birthday frown to smile - NY Daily News


Police save the day after no one comes to boy's birthday
 
Yet in another thread this kind of thing is described as discrimination and ablism. To clarify, it wasn't described as that by anyone here, but in an article that was posted in a thread. I personally think it was a wonderful thing those people did for the kid.

I didn't have any friends when I was little and I made friends for the first time when I was 13. It was a horrible childhood. We lived in Birmingham when our kids were little and one day the lady who lived on the street behind us came and knocked at our door. She had a son who was about 5 and he was autistic and also deaf. He didn't have any friends at all and none of the neighborhood kids would play with him and the moms on her street wouldn't ever set up playdates or even try to get their kids together with hers. She had seen my kids outside playing when she was out walking and wanted to know if I would let her bring her son over to play. I said sure, no problem and she brought him over and explained to my kids how he was different. She would stay over at our house while he played in the playroom or in the back yard with my kids and my two younger kids would go over and play with him at his house. He was between my youngest two kids agewise. I'd walk them over and leave them and come back when she called for me to pick them up or she would watch them walk home through the alley. When my kids overheard how the other kids and parents did him they were very confused and couldn't understand why anybody would be that way. My kids were the only ones who played with that little boy the whole time we lived there. I think it's horrible that the parents of those kids who were invited didn't bring their kids to the party and didn't explain to them why they should go even if they didn't hang out together at school. Those parents have the same lack of manners as the parents of those other kids who lived on the street with the little boy in Birmingham.
 
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This is a very good story. I feel that it was nice for the cops and fire fighters to get together and wish that young boy a happy birthday. I see this as good people doing things for good people.:)

Those people are Sweet Peas for surprising that boy.
 
I personally LOVE that all these people did this to make this little boy happy. He has a special interest in the police & fire fighting too so that made it even more special. They even had a helicopter fly overhead!

I will add that I don't know the circumstances of the Mom's party invites.

Her son is 6 & she invited 16 kids. Typically even a little kid's party invite these days has an RSVP deadline. I know the parents will call through every name on the invite list who has not responded by the RSVP date to confirm that the invitation was received & whether their kid is attending or not.

ALSO, parents usually try to coordinate the date of their kid's party around other activities going on at the same time. Is there an important school sporting event the same day or time that older siblings may be involved with? How any kids' birthdays are there in the same class for that same month? Parents sometimes adjust their party date around another party that is already scheduled, & so on.

I know that it takes some extra effort by the parents to 'successfully' plan even these little parties for their young ones. I'm sure it is not something that any busy parent can easily add to their 'to do' list.

Anyway, just explaining how this typically works. I guess I'm hoping that the parents just inadvertently selected an inconvenient date for the original party ... & not that everyone invited just declined to attend. If the latter was the case, that reflects some parents setting a bad example for their own kids.

At least everything worked out very well in the end for this little boy! :fireengine: :oncomingpolice: :aerialtramway: :shortcake:
 
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