Oliver Johnson turned 8 years old yesterday in his home in New Zealand. Lonely by nature, his mother had just the idea of what might cheer him up.
Young Oliver is obsessed with trucks. He knows the name of every truck, every truck manufacturer, and every trucking company, and his mom Katherine offered $50 to anyone who would come give him a ride in their big rig for his big day.
Katherine hoped one truck driver would take up the offer, but instead, Barry Hart, owner of Hart Haulage Trucking, decided to take it two steps further and organize a whole convoy.
Then it got almost out of hand, with 40 truck drivers signing up to be part of the Oliver Johnson convoy.
“Every one of these truckies that are doing this, and there are probably 10 trucks at least that are coming from Auckland, those guys, it will cost them $500-600 to get that truck down there, do their thing, and go away, and not one of them is asking for anything,” Hart told the NZ Herald.
Scheduled for Yesterday, (Sunday, July 9th), so many signed up that Hart had to organize the convoy like a parade, and call authorities to help manage traffic. He said he saw a boy who felt like he needed some friends around him, and he couldn’t do any less.
Katherine has heard from other members of her community who donated a birthday cake and their best wishes to her son.
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“I would like to say a massive thank you from the bottom of my – and my husband’s – heart and for giving up your time,” she said. “[I] just can’t get over the community… how wonderful everybody’s been.”
A follow-up by the NZ Herald found Ollie on Cloud 9 for his special celebration, which included best wishes from heavy machinery giant Isuzu.
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