Hundreds line up to give Anderson 21-year-old a special birthday parade
ANDERSON, Ind. (WISH) — An Anderson mom’s wish for her son’s birthday came true Saturday with the help of hundreds of people.
Last week, Kim Robinette posted on Facebook, asking friends to drive by their house and honk their horn to give her son his own parade for his 21st birthday. Matthew Robinette has cerebral palsy and Austism and doesn’t or talk so she wanted to bring the party to him.
Her Facebook post was shared more than 1,000 times and hundreds of people lined up Saturday to give Matthew a parade that lasted more than an hour and a half.
His family members and friends waiting for the parade in front of his house, knew it would be his best day ever. But what they saw come down the other side of the street, was unlike anything they’d seen before.
“It was almost like going to Disney, but it was right here, it was coming past him and he was loving it,” said Kim Robinette, Matthew’s mom.
A line of police cars started the parade. Fire trucks followed. Then came motorcycles, bands, and dancers. Matthew smiling nearly the entire time.
“If I could have bottled up that giggle, I mean it’s priceless. You can’t put anything on it because it’s priceless,” said Kim.
There were people who drove by honking their decorated cars, a busload of people singing happy birthday and a semi with a banner full of birthday wishes.
“I was amazed at the number of people who were coming through just crying themselves,” said Kim.
The unofficial vehicle count was somewhere around 350.
“This is crazy. I mean it’s down the block and around the corner,” said someone watching the parade.
All those people there for Matthew.
“He’s never really had a lot of people that have paid much attention to him and to have this kind of response for just one person,” said Matthew’s brother, Chris Robinette.
A person with a rare ability to bring out a kind of love in people, those watching had never seen before.
“I was looking at him this morning and he was sound asleep, and I’m like, you know what Matthew, you’re going to teach the world what it is to just love unconditionally something you don’t know and that power right there makes everything worth it for me,” said Kim.