Deputies step in when nobody showed up for autistic boy's birthday

Saturday, February 21, 2015

ORLANDO, FL -- Imagine inviting your son's entire class to his birthday party and no one comes. That's what happened when Ashlee Buratti threw a birthday party for her son Glenn, who has autism, reports WKMG in Orlando.

Not one single person from his class at Mill Creek Elementary in St. Cloud, Florida, came to the party, leaving her son devastated. Ashlee says her son refused to smile.

But this story has a happy ending. Feeling like she failed her son, Ashlee turned to Facebook, where she wrote a post about how badly she felt for him. She says almost immediately, strangers, parents and their kids began arriving with gifts.

Her post also caught the attention of the Osceola County Sheriff's Office who sent a special gift, a flyover from the department's helicopter.

"One of our friends put him up on his shoulders and Glenn just smiled the whole time and waved. It was amazing," said Buratti.

The deputies even pooled their money together and bought her son gifts.

Buratti said the response from her post has restored her faith in the human spirit.

"The amazingness of everybody coming together for somebody that they didn't even know; a kid that didn't have anybody come to his birthday party. It warmed my heart," Buratti said.

It's been a week since the party and Buratti says she hasn't heard from any of her son's classmates or parents about why they didn't come to the party.