Posted on 04/19/2015 1:22:25 PM PDT by BBell
Hundreds attend mentally disabled girl's tenth birthday after Facebook appeal when none of her class
Mackenzie Moretter, of Shakopee, Minnesota, celebrated her tenth birthday on Saturday
When none of her classmates could come to her party, Mackenzie's mother posted on Facebook groups, inviting strangers to the celebrations
More than 700 people joined a Facebook event for the birthday party
Hundreds of people flocked to a park in Shakopee on Saturday
They brought Mackenzie gifts and food and she made new friends
Mackenzie was diagnosed with Sotos Syndrome when she was a year old
The disorder delayed her development and makes it hard to socialize
Strangers from around Minnesota flocked to a ten-year-old girl's birthday party, after several of her classmates didn't respond to their invitations, in hopes of giving her a celebration she'll never forget.
Mackenzie Moretter, who has a rare genetic disorder called Sotos Syndrome that has delayed her development, which makes it hard for her to socialize, told her parents she wanted a 'big-girl party' for her tenth birthday.
This meant inviting friends, but after her parents sent invitations to Mackenzie's classmates and heard no response, her mother Jenny Moretter took a different approach.
Jenny Moretter went on Facebook and posted in a few local groups asking families with girls around Mackenzie's age to stop by their Shakopee home on Saturday - and the response was overwhelming.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I don’t know if the kids did not turn up because of a disability, but what I do know is that if I give my word my kids will show up then they will.
I remember a similar story about a wedding feast!
My first response was “rotten, little brats”. But I thought about it... rotten, little brats come from rotten to the core parents. You, BBell.. have taught your children empathy, compassion and kindness. My kids would have gone without prompting simply because they would have wanted to make her happy. Bless all those families who took time out of their day to go to a party for a little girl they didn’t know.. simply because they had empathy, compassion and kindness.
My oldest is dating a young lady who has a sister with down syndrome. She is a handful but he still goes to her shows and the last time went to her school show and brought her flowers.
You are right about parents. I have watched during my kids growing up the kids who are rude and disrespectful. You then look at the parents and know why these kids are like they are.
I find it hard to believe that an entire classroom of 10-year-old children would shun the birthday party of a classmate that they were invited to. Even if that classmate was painfully shy.
Now if it were high school kids, maybe I could see that happening.
The high school principal told my daughter he saw what she did and wished he had more students like her.
Sometimes you can’t go to a party because you have other plans already.
My two middle-school girls would be much more likely to attend this girl's party than the perfect, rich, girl-who-has-everything's party down the street.
It all starts in the home and early, doesn’t it? My daughter is a Freshman in high school... has a large group of friends and they eat together at lunch. A nice, young girl with some sort of mental disability was being teased by some of the students. My daughter walked up to her and asked her to sit at their table. She now has “her” seat with the “regular” kids (that is her statement). There are times in your kids lives when you aren’t happy with them... then there are times like these that you are just beyond proud.
To be honest, we don’t now how severe her impairment is, and just handing out invitations to kids you have never socialized with doesn’t mean they’ll show up. Let’s look at the positive side that hundreds of Americans did the right thing to make this kid happy.
Kids are cruel too. Back in grade school, my classmate had epilepsy and the same thing happened, no one showed up. Back then, I had the pox so I had a really good excuse and felt bad for the dude as he was extremely smart. Socially, he was just shunned.
You raised a good girl my FRiend!
Oh, I agree. I guess I got the idea from the article that multiple kids from her class were invited and said no. Plus, the article stated that they didn’t include her in anything... the immediate response is they are just being mean. Not sure the stats but in previous kid parties, I would say the RSVP yes response was at least 80%. That’s the stat for us anyways.
Agree.
Kids are a reflection of their parents and how they were raised. Far too many kids today can’t even say thank you sir or mam or hold the door open for others as they enter a store.
Well done on your daughter.
What an adorable child Mackenzie is!
Happy Birthday, Mackenzie....and MANY more.
Thanks for posting this story with a VERY happy ending :-)
one of the positives of social media... :)
That happened to me once in elementary school. Lesson learned, a birthday party should have friends invited. Classmates aren’t all friends.
Unless everyone in that class was a friend that parent should not have exposed their child to that potential rejection.
Wow! Too bad Charlie Brown’s mom didn’t have FaceBook.
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