Birthday Parade for 5 Yr. Old Texan Who Lost His Parents to COVID

It's both a heart-wrenching and heart-warming story all at once.

It's a story of a community coming together in the face of loss in order to celebrate life.

Raiden Gonzalez of San Antonio turned five years old on Saturday, just a few short months after both his parents, Adan and Mariah Gonzalez, died from COVID-19. It was his first birthday without his parents and the City of San Antonio, along with hundreds of loving community members made sure he didn't feel alone on his birthday.

Community members joined forces with local organizations for a massive drive by parade held outside of Raiden's grandmother's home in San Antonio.

According to a KWTX 10 report, "The massive car parade, which included appearances by Santa Claus, superheroes, and dinosaurs, lasted nearly an hour."

Dozens of truck drivers were also a part of the procession, as Raiden's father was a truck driver.

Raiden's grandmother, Rozie Salinas offered, "Words can’t explain what I’m feeling right now. There’s other people that are coming, you know, from other cities.”

Rozie offers that Raiden understands his parents are angels now and watching over him. She was overwhelmed by the community support. “He’s received so, so much, and it’s amazing how, you know, it’s like I tell him, ‘All these people are doing this for you,’” she said.

KSAT12 covered the parade, which you can see here.

Happy Birthday, Raiden. Our thoughts are with you and your family.