Teen with autism who celebrated birthday alone receives thousands of cards

[Omaha Steve]

Last edited Thu Jun 16, 2016, 08:04 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: USA Today

Ashley May,

Last year, none of Hallee Sorenson classmates or friends attended her 18th birthday party.

She sat alone in a bowling alley, crying into her birthday cake, heartbroken. Sorenson’s cousin Rebecca Guildford wasn’t about to let this birthday go by unrecognized.

Guildford took to Facebook to ask friends and family to send Sorenson, who has autism, birthday cards, something she knew would make Sorenson’s birthday great.

“Hallee is funny, sweet, caring, smart, an athlete, a jigsaw puzzle champion, a wonderful student, and a best friend to all,” she said in the post.

FULL story at link.


Hallee Sorenson, of Bangor, Maine, poses for a photo in the Bangor area. Guildford's Facebook post calling for people to help her autistic cousin have a better birthday has been shared more than 150,000 times.
(Photo: Rebecca Guildford/ Allyson Seel-Sorenson, AP)

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/06/16/austic-teen-who-celebrated-birthday-alone-receives-thousands-cards/85985572/

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Want to send a card? Her birthday is July 2. Address: 34 Wellesley Way, Bangor, ME 04401

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/HalleesBirthday/timeline

[kimbutgar]

1. Done. Card will put in mail tomorrow.

My son is 23 and also autistic. My husband and I had a big party for him for his 8th birthday. We even got a bouncy house. I invited all the kids in his class. Only 1 showed up. Luckily we also had family and friends. But I saw his disappointment that more of his classmates did not show up.

Fast forward on his 21st I invited all his teachers I kept in touch with, his therapists and some of the young adults in his day program. Some of their parents brought them. It was a great party and he was so happy! He got overwhelmed and told everyone at the party he needed to take a break. Everyone said ok. He was gone about 15 minutes came back and enjoyed the party. Everyone complimented him on recognizing he needed that break. It still is an unforgettable experience he talks about to this day.

[Omaha Steve]

3. Thank you for sharing

OS

[DianaForRussFeingold]

2. K&R and bookmarked

Aww... She is so cute. Thank You for sharing, Omaha Steve... I'm sure she will have plenty more cards and a great Birthday this year.

[DonRedwood]

4. done! with a gift card to boot!

admittedly, it is a recycled gift card left over from Christmas, but I'll bet it makes her day!

[Odin2005]

5. K&R!

[elljay]

6. WTF is the matter with the parents of the classmates?

I know it can be uncomfortable for teens to hang out with someone who they may find "irritating," "weird," or "boring," to share a few of my teen's favorite words. However, what a teachable moment was missed when their parents didn't sit the teens down and give them a talk about the importance of being kind and understanding. For all of the classmates to skip a birthday party for a girl they clearly knew was autistic was just disgraceful. For a couple of hours they could have brought a bit of joy to a girl whose world and life must be incredibly difficult. So glad Hallee has a wonderful cousin looking out for her this year!

[Wednesdays]

8. Are you kidding? It's the American Way

The girl's lucky she wasn't bombarded online with ugly epithets from her peers. A trip down the darker corners of 4chan and Google+ can be a real eye opener... To the kids online there, anything disgustingly undesirable is described as "cancer" and "autism."

[elljay]

9. Oh, Great

The children are the future.

[Chan790]

10. They are, still.

It has to be said, in a generalized and non-specific sense, with few exceptions, 13-17 year olds are assholes. They grow out of it, it's part of finding their way in the world and sometimes the fallout and side effects of that are less than desirable.

[elljay]

11. Yeah, I know

Got one at home and she does have her moments. However, while she can certainly be rude and thoughtless, she is not cruel. I have to continually remind her that everyone screws up but that she has to learn to take responsibility and move on. It will hopefully make sense to her in the future, but at least I'm trying. I'm seeing too many kids raised by parents who think their progeny are perfect and who don't even make the attempt. I assume that all of the classmates and most of their parents already knew about this girl and when not a single one shows up, even for a few minutes, it makes me sad.

[gopiscrap]

7. Excellent

[Omaha Steve]

12. I bought her a Looney Tune card today

Everybody loves looney Tunes: http://www.hallmark.com/cards/greeting-cards/yer-not-old-yosemite-sam-birthday-card-299HBD1596.html