Left alone last year, teen with autism gets more than 10,000 birthday cards this year

Last year, Hallee Sorenson, a teenager with autism, sat alone at her bowling alley birthday party, stood up by her friends.

This year, for her 19th birthday, Sorenson received over 10,000 cards from people around the world.

On June 7, Sorenson’s cousin, Rebecca Lyn, shared a photo on Facebook of Sorenson sitting alone at her birthday party last year, explaining that invitations were sent out to Sorenson’s classmates in Bangor, Maine, but no one arrived.

Sorenson asked her Facebook friends to send Hallee a birthday card and to share the post.

“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,” Lyn wrote on Facebook.

The post was shared more than 230,000 times, and soon Hallee’s garage was packed with mail from around the world.

Allyson Sorenson, Hallee’s mother, launched a Facebook page to keep friends updated on the cards that have been pouring in. On the page, she wrote there were four people working all day to sort and organize the cards and gifts.

So far, Hallee has received mail and messages from the Maine Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police, the Boston Red Sox, a soldier deployed in Afghanistan, the Denver Broncos, the state of Ohio and a woman who works at the Kennedy Space Center who sent a NASA Barbie as well.

Hallee celebrated her 19th birthday on June 2, but the cards and letters are still coming, with the comments on pictures of Hallee’s received cards asking for her favorite animal and color.

To send Hallee a card, address the mail to:

Hallee Sorenson

34 Wellesley Way

Bangor, ME 04401

This story was first published by The Charlotte Observer.

This story was originally published June 16, 2016 at 10:56 AM with the headline "Left alone last year, teen with autism gets more than 10,000 birthday cards this year."