When she turned 18, Hallee Soreson was left sitting alone in a bowling alley and no one to share her ice cream cake with.
The Maine-native, who has autism, sent out her invitations to classmates, but “Hallee’s friends would never arrive. Not a single one.”
So her cousin, Rebecca Guildford, took action this time around to make sure her loved one would never experience anything like that again.
Guildford in a now-viral Facebook post, described her cousin as “funny, sweet, caring, smart, an athlete, a jigsaw puzzle champion, a wonderful student and a best friend to all,” and called on the internet to send her some love.
“Hallee is an amazing person – a person I am proud to be related to. She is also a person who just happens to have Autism,” Rebeca continued.
Underneath a picture of her cousin sitting alone last year, she wrote: “You can help make this year incredible!! I would love to flood her mailbox with birthday cards, from all over! Hal loves getting mail – this would be the best birthday gift she could ask for.”
And the internet came through.
Since the post went live last week, the now-19-year-old has received upwards of 6,000 cards and small gifts from people in countries all over the world including Japan, Mongolia, Singapore, Germany and Egypt, according to the Bangor Daily News.
“We have been getting entire trucks for just Hallee… they even sent one on Sunday,” Hallee’s mom, Alyson Seel-Sorenson told the paper. “It’s unbelievable. I’m laughing at it, and then I’m crying.”
