Stood-Up Birthday Boy Feels The Love
(CBS) – It's turned out to be a happy birthday, after all, for Gerald Hamilton, the 9-year-old Lake Station, Ind. boy who was virtually abandoned on his birthday recently.
None of the 30 birthday-party invitees came, including children whose parents RSVP'd. So his grandmother, Amelia Lara, posted on Facebook, asking people to send Gerald birthday cards. The entreaty went viral.
Fast forward to Friday. The cards, packages, honors and gifts kept rolling in for Gerald, who has had a series of major operations on his skull due to a rare condition.
"It's remarkable and almost overwhelming," said Vonnie Stover, an administrative assistant at the office where all of Gerald's gifts and cards are being sent to. "Our mail lady has been overwhelmed. I need a full-time assistant to help me with all the gifts!"
Among other gifts, the city's treasurer stopped by to give Gerald a bike. A man at breakfast handed the boy a $100 bill. The City Council presented him with a gift basket. Local officers awarded him an honorary badge. An 11-year-old boy sent him his used Matchbox cars along with a note saying he "felt really bad."
"He now knows there are people who care," his grandmother told WBBM.
Still, with all the gifts he'd been sent, when asked if he could have anything, what would he choose?
"Friends," he told CBS 2.
On that front, there is good news. Gerald's grandmother got a call from a mom with a boy who has had the exact same surgeries. He deals with similar struggles.
A play date is in the works.
Cards and gifts can still be sent to:
Gerald Hamilton
c/o Amelia Lara
238 Main Street
Hobart, IN, 46342.
