Coronavirus News: Friends, family celebrate Long Island girl with special drive-by 5th birthday party

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Coronavirus News: Friends celebrate LI girl with special drive-by birthday party

Sandra Bookman reports on the drive-by birthday celebration for a 5-year-old Long Island girl.

GREENLAWN, Long Island (WABC) -- In a new world of social distancing, people are finding new ways to celebrate big milestones.

A little girl on Long Island turned 5 this week, and her friends and family wanted to make sure that her birthday was still special.

It wasn't the 5th birthday party that Janese Pfeiffer originally imagined for her young daughter Emma, but in some ways it turned out to be just what their family needed.

"We had about 50 cars lined up and little miss Ema was on her chair and we had a lot of fun with it," Pfeiffer said.

Friends organized Tuesday's drive-by birthday party after the family realized they would have to find another way to celebrate Emma's big day because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The birthday was especially important to the Pfeiffers because Emma's father Gregg died last year from pancreatic cancer at 39 years old.

As she watched the cars roll by her home with their birthday banners, song and other well-wishes, Janese said she stood next to Emma crying behind her sunglasses -- grateful for the bittersweet moment.

"I kept thinking this is so beautiful, this is so beautiful, so beautifully sad," Pfeiffer said.

She credits the "army" of friends who have stood by her since her husband's death with putting the rolling party together and managing to follow all the new rules of social-distancing.