400 Strangers Surprise A Girl On Her Birthday After Mom's Plea Goes Viral

A mom sick of seeing her daughter repeatedly disappointed on her birthday sent out a Facebook plea to get strangers to attend her party.

It was just days short of her daughter’s party and all of the girls who were invited cancelled or didn’t RSVP. Jenny Moretter’s daughter Mackenzie has Sotos Syndrome, a disorder that causes children to grow faster and experience speech and developmental delays. Moretter told ABC News, “I originally invited 10 girls three weeks prior, but we got two cancellations and the other girls’ moms didn’t RSVP at all. It’s happened to her on previous birthdays where she would end up sitting alone with family. I didn’t want it to happen to my daughter again this year.”

So she decided to take to several Facebook pages to invite families to attend her daughter’s party:

She was expecting a handful of people to take her up on her invite, but after the post began to circulate on Facebook, hundreds of people ended up showing up this past Saturday at a park in Shakopee, Minnesota. Roughly 400 people showed up, including Minnesota Vikings player Charles Johnson and his family, “Elsa” and “Snoopy” from a local amusement park, and some local firemen.

Today is Mackenzie’s actual birthday and her mom took to Facebook to thank everyone for the “thousands of messages” she’s received, and also to remind people to teach their children that everyone is special and deserves attention. She says of Mackenzie, “she has a new voice and a new found confidence that I myself thought I would never see.”

What a beautiful turn of events. A little girl was made to feel loved and special by throngs of total strangers — a testament to the power of social media and how it really can be used for good.

If you would like to drop a birthday card in the mail for Mackenzie, you can send it to, PO Box 331, Shakopee MN 55379.