ST. CLOUD, Fla. – An entire community made a 6-year-old autistic boy's birthday party one that he won't forget.
Glenn Buratti was turning 6 years old and invited all of the kids from his class to his birthday party. Glenn's mother, Ashlee Buratti, says the day of the party, nobody showed up.
"To see the look on his face killed me inside," Ashlee Buratti told Local 6.
Buratti said her son was so devastated when he found out no one was coming to his birthday party that he refused to smile.
Thinking she failed him, Buratti said she turned to Facebook and wrote a post about how badly she felt for Glenn.
Buratti said almost immediately, complete strangers responded and soon, kids and their parents started arriving with gifts.
Buratti's post also caught the eye of the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, who sent their own gift-- 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 deputies had also pooled their own money and bought Glenn gifts.
Buratti says the response from her one post on Facebook has almost been overwhelming but has restored her faith in her higher power and the human spirit.
"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."
A week after Glenn's party, Buratti said she hasn't heard anything from Glenn's classmates or parents who were invited that day.
Buratti said there is a downside to the outpouring of generosity -- she'll have to top this year's birthday party next year.