Glen Ellyn police 'drive by, toot the horn' to give kids memorable birthdays

We all have birthdays we'll never forget.

Maybe it was a milestone year. Maybe no celebration can hold a candle to your roller rink party or sleepover with pals from school.

Avery Todhunter will always remember the time the police showed up at her bash.

Celebrating with her 4-year-old sister, Brinley, and brother, Evan, 6, Avery and her siblings weren't exactly a rowdy bunch.

Officer Joe Nemchock was actually part of the party on a special assignment Friday: Bringing much-needed excitement to a 9-year-old isolated from her friends.

"We're trying to break up the monotony of people's days while they're stuck at home," Deputy Chief Kurt Vavra said. "If we can pull up for a minute and make a memory for somebody, then it's worth it."

With drive-by visits, police and firefighters across the suburbs are helping kids and seniors have memorable birthdays while keeping a safe distance.

In Glen Ellyn, police put an offer on Facebook to "drive by, toot the horn, turn on the lights, and give a big birthday wave" to kids who can't go anywhere for their birthdays.

"This idea was born out of necessity for us," Vavra said. "We pride ourselves on being engaged and staying engaged with the community, and the current situation we're all facing makes it challenging. So we were just trying to think of different ways that we can still keep our distance from everybody and try and bring a smile to some kids' faces."

Vavra did that himself Friday giving an in-person birthday shoutout to a young boy.

"He was pretty happy, so we accomplished exactly what we were looking for," he said.

So far, police have been to 10 houses since starting to spread birthday cheer.

"In about a 24-hour period, we had 50 people ask to have one of our officers drive by their house," Vavra said.

As officer Nemchock drove by Avery's house, her parents, brother and sister, clutching a teddy bear, stayed in their driveway. Nemchock rolled down his window with a genial smile and sang a few lines of "Happy Birthday."

"This is really, really nice," Avery's mom, Amanda Todhunter said. "And we appreciate everything they're trying to do to bring some normalcy to these kids and us, too."