Mum's Facebook Vent Triggers Birthday Surprise for Autistic Son

When Glenn Buratti invited his entire class to his 6th birthday party, you’d think it would be a party full of the typical fun and noise of most 6 year old parties right? Wrong!

In fact not one child attended. Not one! Thank goodness for his local community and emergency services in St Cloud, Florida rallied to give him a really special celebration he’ll never forget.

Ashlee Buratti invited her son Glenn’s entire class of 16 children from Mill Creek Elementary to his party on February 8, but no one came. Although she and her husband John had not received any RSVPs, like most parents, they were hopeful SOME would turn up regardless to celebrate with Glenn, 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,” she told the Osceola News-Gazette.

“He’s really sensitive,” she added, saying he became upset when she eventually had to tell him no one was coming and refused to smile. How heartbreaking!

“It’s probably one of the biggest hurts you can have, to see how let down your child is when nobody shows up for them,” Ashlee said.

Out of pure frustration, Glenn’s mother took to the Osceola Rants Raves and Reviews List on Facebook, which has around 10,000 members. “I just wanted to vent to other parents who maybe had been through the same thing,” she said.

“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.

Numerous members of the group replied, with some asking to bring their kids around that day. In the end, about 15 kids and 25 adults, all complete strangers, showed up to Glenn’s house for party games and birthday cake, to help Glenn celebrate his birthday. “One lady brought him a brand new bike,” Ms Buratti said. “I’m very surprised,” she said, “Just one Facebook post and it took off with people helping us. It was amazing.”

Watch this amazing video to see the beauty of human spirit and restore our faith in the human spirit!

Three days later, members of the Osceola Sheriff’s office and fire brigade visited Glenn at home to wish him a belated birthday, bringing presents and a very special VIP tour of their vehicles. Even the police dogs came along! To top it off, they even arranged a rescue helicopter to fly overhead, low enough so Glenn could see the pilot waving. “They said his story really touched their hearts and they wanted to do something,” Ms Buratti said.