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3-year-old girl who loves sanitation workers surprised with garbage truck birthday parade

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3-year-old who loves sanitation workers surprised with birthday garbage truck parade
Leslie Riley
ByNicole Pelletiere
April 28, 2020, 8:16 AM

A little girl who befriended her neighborhood sanitation workers has received a surprise birthday celebration.

Lena Riley was surprised April 18, one day after her third birthday, by a fleet of seven trucks outside of her home in Henderson, Nevada.

Mom Leslie Riley told "Good Morning America" that she and her daughter began greeting the Republic waste & recycling workers with baked goods after Lena would watch them from her window.

Lena Riley was surprised April 18, one day after her third birthday, by a fleet of seven trucks outside of her home in Henderson, Nevada.
Leslie Riley

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"If she hears the truck outside and we don't have something to feed them with, she'll start to cry and say, 'We have to feed the blue trucks!'" Riley said. "We've gotten to know them very well."

Lena Riley was surprised April 18, one day after her third birthday, by a fleet of seven trucks outside of her home in Henderson, Nevada.
Leslie Riley

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Riley said a family friend helped organize for the trucks to pay a visit to Lena.

The garbage trucks arrived decorated in flowers and workers gifted Lena a swag bag filled with coloring books, a hat and coffee mug.

Lena Riley was surprised April 18, one day after her third birthday, by a fleet of seven trucks outside of her home in Henderson, Nevada.
Leslie Riley
Lena Riley was surprised April 18, one day after her third birthday, by a fleet of seven trucks outside of her home in Henderson, Nevada.
Leslie Riley

"It's good to see a community coming together during a time like this," Riley said of the current pandemic. "It was just the sweetest. Every truck that came around the corner, [I had] more tears."

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