Hallee Sorenson was devastated when no one came to her 18th birthday party last year.
A cousin wanted the Maine teenager to have a better experience this year, so she posted a poignant photo of Hallee on Facebook and asked friends to mail her cards.
The post went viral — and now the cards are pouring in.
“It’s unbelievable,” Allyson Seel-Sorenson, Hallee’s mother, told the Bangor Daily News this week. She estimates 6,000 cards have arrived so far.
Like others, Hallee’s family is using social media to bridge the gap between physical and digital communication.
Sarah Fugate, a Postal Service fan, recently received letters and gifts to help her celebrate her 20th birthday.
Ellie Walton, a terminally ill toddler, saw the world through hundreds of postcards she received after her mother requested them.
Last year, a Facebook request for Sa’fyre Terry, a young burn victim who wanted greeting cards for Christmas, led to the little girl receiving more than 1 million mailpieces.
Hallee, who is autistic, is excited to receive so much attention.
Seel-Sorenson said when her daughter spotted herself on a newspaper’s front page this week, she exclaimed, “It’s all me! It’s Hallee!”