Nearly 40 people helped a boy get the sledding day of his dreams

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    YORK COUNTY, Pennsylvania (WPMT) — Matthew Smith knew he had a problem.

The father of 5-year-old Owen knew heavy snow was coming Thursday morning. But Smith also knew the family had left Owen’s sled at Owen’s grandparent’s house.

“I was like, oh my god. We don’t have a sled,” said Smith who said he scrambled to find a sled through stores but came up empty. The desperate dad’s last resort: a plea on facebook to help Owen have the snow day he deserved.

“So, I just put a message on Facebook on the southern York County Facebook group asking if anyone had an extra sled we could use and people responded and offered me their sleds,” said Smith.

In fact, so many people responded that Smith said he got nearly 40 offers to help.

“The moderator cut it off because I think there was enough sleds,” said Smith.

Smith took two people up on their offers which resulted in Owen getting a total of five sleds.

“So, one gentleman let us have one sled and another said he had just bought 4,” said Smith. The man who had four sleds in his possession told Smith he wasn’t using them.

The result: Owen spent Thursday sliding down hills on a toboggan and an assortment of discs.

“He saw them in the morning. He was excited. He thought he didn’t have a sled,” said Smith.

Owen’s favorite sled? One disc that was his favorite color blue.

“My message to everybody is just thank you for being a neighbor. For being human. For being the people of York County. You know, I grew up here,” said Smith as he watched Owen play. “He’ll be out here all day sledding like this. So, he’ll be a happy kid all day long and I appreciate it.”

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