By Mike Jaquays
Birthdays are always a special time for young students, as they bring cupcakes to school, dress up and enjoy a day of congratulations from teachers and friends. But with the schools now closed, many students with spring birthdays are not going to be able to enjoy the fun of their big day.
That’s something the Morrisville Fire Department doesn’t want the kids of their district to miss.
The department posted April 3 on their Facebook page that “if anyone has a child whose birthday party had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, in our district, please contact our page and we would be glad to do a firetruck drive-by to wish the special someone a happy birthday!” Within days, that original post was shared more than 1,000 times.
First assistant chief Rick Gorton recalled back to the childhood days of celebrating birthdays in school and how kids would look forward to them for days if not weeks beforehand. The firefighters didn’t want their local children to miss out on that red letter day, so they decided to bring out the firetruck in full gear with lights and sirens blaring to bring birthday wishes straight to the kids.
Edward R. Andrews Elementary School first-grader Alana Eiholzer was one of the children not able to celebrate her seventh birthday April 4 in school nor even with a birthday party with friends. But the firefighters visited her and her family that day in the school parking lot – she actually lives outside their district or they would have driven to her home, Gorton noted - with a sign held high reading “Happy birthday Alana!!!” making some truly festive and unique birthday memories.
“I think this is just a great thing for them to do,” her dad Paul Eiholzer said as the family watched the firefighters park the truck and then hold up the sign from the social distancing safety of their own van.
“This was a great way to get us all out of the house for something fun,” added her mom Amanda Eiholzer.
For more information on arranging a drive-by birthday visit for a student in the Morrisville department’s district, find “Morrisville Fire Dept” on Facebook. To see video from their visit to Alana, visit the Mid-York Weekly’s Facebook page.
Aritcle Obtained from: https://www.uticaod.com/news/20200406/morrisville-firefighters-deliver-birthday-cheer
Morrisville Fire Department’s First Assistant Chief Rick Gorton holds up happy birthday signs April 4 before the firefighters headed out to visit area homebound children missing their birthdays in school.
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