The belated birthday present that Lauraine Mulally will receive Friday won’t be much of a surprise to her.

Her son, Alan Mulally, told her before her Feb. 18 birthday that he planned to make a donation to Douglas County Senior Services in her honor.

Alan Mulally, a Lawrence High School and Kansas University graduate who is now president and chief executive officer of Ford Motor Co., asked his mother about a month ago what she would think if he donated a 15-passenger van to the organization.

“I said, ‘Oh, that would be wonderful,'” Lauraine Mulally, a Lawrence resident who frequents the Lawrence Senior Center, said Tuesday from her home.

She said the van would come in handy for those who spend time and work at the Senior Center, 745 Vt.

“It will mean that we have a van to take a bunch of us to any of the places that we want to go, like the dinner theater and any tours we have around town,” Lauraine Mulally said.

Normally, the center rents a van to transport large numbers of its clients.

Alan Mulally will have a private reception at 2 p.m. Friday at the Senior Center to officially donate the van, worth approximately $30,500.

The following day, he will serve as grand marshal for Lawrence’s 20th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The parade gets started at 1 p.m. Saturday from South Park and will head north along Massachusetts Street.

Mulally worked at The Boeing Co. for 37 years before taking over at Ford in September 2006.

Laird Noller Automotive has the van ready and equipped with add-ons, including running boards to assist passenger entry, according to Gary Bennett, general manager of Laird Noller Automotive.