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Photo of a Maine Teen Sitting Alone at Her Birthday Party


Monroe

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This was last July for her 18th birthday ... her cousin mentioned it on Facebook and the story went crazy viral. Sad that no one came ... she has autism ... the photo was shot by her mother.

From the article below ...

"The paper reported Saturday that Seel-Sorenson shot the viral photo.

“I was standing behind a pillar. I was crying,” she said. “No one showed up. No one called. Hallee just doesn’t understand. You can’t explain it to her. She operates at a 6-year-old’s level. She just doesn’t get it.”

Seel-Sorenson told the paper she and husband don’t plan to have a big birthday party for Hallee this year, despite generous offers from people and businesses to throw her a party for free."

Post of Teen Sitting Alone at Birthday Party Goes Viral, Sparks Card Frenzy - Maine

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/06/11/post-teen-sitting-alone-at-birthday-party-goes-viral-sparks-card-frenzy.html?intcmp=latestnews

A Facebook post that includes a photo of a Maine teen sitting alone at her birthday party has gone viral, sparking strangers from around the world to send her cards.

A woman in Massachusetts posted the picture this week to make sure her cousin Hallee Sorenson, who has autism, wouldn’t have an unhappy birthday when she turns 19 July 2, NECN-TV reports.

Hallee sent invitations to friends and was excited to go bowling with them on her 18th birthday last July, Rebecca Guildford, of Oxford, Mass., wrote.

“Hallee sat at her party anxiously waiting for her friends to arrive so they could have fun,” she said. “But Hallee’s friends would never arrive. Not a single one.”

Guildford asked people reading her Facebook post to send birthday cards, the station reported Friday.

She never expected the response she got. As of Saturday, the post had been shared more than 196,000 times and received dozens of comments from people pledging to send cards.

NECN’s report showed Hallee’s mother Allyson Seel-Sorenson retrieving a stack of birthday cards from her mailbox in Bangor the other day. People have also sent flowers and balloons.

 

This article from Friday, also has a Maine address if anyone wants to send her a card ... maybe from another country. I didn't post it for that reason ... just kind of a sad story, like everything else in the world. I wasn't sure if I could post the address from the article in this post.

Photo of Teen Alone at Birthday Party Goes Viral

"She was heartbroken and beyond sad. She was hurt"

By Mike Pescaro

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/national-international/Photo-of-Maine-Teen-Alone-at-Birthday-Party-Goes-Viral-382402801.html

A photo of a Maine teenager sitting by herself at her birthday party is going viral and prompting people to send her cards.

The photo of 18-year-old Hallee Sorenson was shared on Facebook by her cousin, Rebecca Guildford of Oxford, Massachusetts, who wrote that Hallee has autism.

"Hallee is funny, sweet, caring, smart, an athlete, a jigsaw puzzle champion, a wonderful student, and a best friend to all. Hallee is an amazing person — a person I am proud to be related to," she wrote. "She is also a person who just happens to have Autism. She has never let that small detail define who she is as a person — which is why I refuse to use it as something to describe her."

She described the heartbreaking scene at Sorenson's last birthday party — the teen had sent invitations to classmates and other friends, and was excited to go bowling with them.

"Hallee sat at her party anxiously waiting for her friends to arrive so they could have fun," Guildford wrote. "But Hallee's friends would never arrive. Not a single one."

It was Sorenson's 18th birthday. What should have been a milestone of adulthood was instead painful and lonely, Guildford wrote.

"My cousin is a beautiful young woman who will always have the mind of a child," she wrote. "She was heartbroken and beyond sad. She was hurt."

Guildford wants her cousin's next birthday, in July, to be special. She is asking people reading her Facebook post to send birthday cards.

As of Friday morning, the post had been shared more than 136,000 times and received dozens comments from people pledging to send cards.

When Guildford first posted the photo, she hoped she would convince 50 to 100 of her friends to send cards to Hallee. Now she has been deluged with emails, including ones from Ireland, Italy and France.

"This has blown up to something I couldn't have even thought of in my wildest dreams," she said. "It's overwhelming, but in a good way. I definitely never saw this coming."

If people take one message from the photo, she hopes it is to be kind to one another, she said. Hallee still remembers her disappointment last year, she said.

"I'm hoping that with all of this that we're able to replace those negative memories with some really good, strong, awesome memories of what a birthday really should be like," Guildford said.

Guildford noted that many people have been asking about sending gifts, and that while her family appreciates the sentiment, "gifts truly aren't necessary. A nice card would be just fine!!!"

...

Edited by monroe
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An update to the post from last Saturday ... from the article below ... at the link there are new pictures and a picture of a Postal vehicle with mail.

"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.”

Under Hallee's picture it says this ...

Postal officers in Bangor, Maine, have delivered more than 10,000 cards, letters and parcels to Hallee Sorenson since Rebecca Guildford made the Facebook post on June 8.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/autistic-teen-flooded-6-000-birthday-cards-article-1.2675141

...

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  • 2 weeks later...

A further update ... thousands of birthday cards are still arriving daily. Her mother just posted an hour ago that the Post Office is bringing more mail later today.

Hallee's 19th Birthday

2 hrs ·

Everyone's #1 mail carrier John has let us know that we have 12 flats and 8 tubs of mail coming today!! Band-aids are ready!!

Hallee's 19th Birthday

https://www.facebook.com/HalleesBirthday/

... if you have time, her mother has been posting pictures of cards and packages from everywhere ... truckloads !!!

The world says Happy Birthday to Hallee Sorenson

http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/207/the-world-says-happy-birthday-to-hallee-sorenson-1/252601505

Google - Hallee Sorenson

https://www.google.com/search?q=Hallee+Sorenson&hl=en&site=webhp&gbv=2&sei=rWNxV9T4N8r9mAHDvpa4Dw

...

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  • 3 weeks later...

It's been fascinating looking at the pictures of what people sent to Hallee Sorenson in Maine ... so many candies and items from around the world.

One item caught my attention ... a picture from July 12 showing a Green Tea Kit-Kat bar in a green wrapper and not red. I have no idea what country it's from ... maybe Korea ? ... just a wild guess ... wonder what that tastes like? Other many interesting pictures.

https://www.facebook.com/HalleesBirthday/

Right now it's about five pictures down and dated July 12th.

Going a little farther down to July 11th ... this was posted ... I took just this small few lines out of the post.

"The most interesting and unique candy has to be from Asia. I swear I ate chocolate that had some kind of sea-life in it last week. The Kit-Kat varieties alone are staggering. And not being able to read the label is half the fun. Might be sea urchin..might be machi..you take your chances."
...

Edited by monroe
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  • 4 months later...

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