I feel blessed that I was able to be at the City Council meeting on the 14th of September to see the council and mayor present to Barbara and Steve Riley a Resolution naming the basketball courts at Briscoe Park the “Amanda Riley Courts” after the young lady who lost her battle with cancer in 2010. Her spirit, smile and faith will live on as inspiration for all who know her story and how she and her family faced this battle of cancer. “There’s nothing in this world that Amanda enjoyed more than being at her church and playing basketball,” Amanda’s mother Barbara Riley said. “She started playing when she was about 6 years old and she once wrote a paper when she was in elementary school that said she felt like Superman when she was on the court”.
The Rileys have been a fixture in the battle against childhood cancer and have been instrumental in keeping the fight in the public eye locally through their efforts and through the website www.amandarileyfoundation.org since Amanda died in 2010.
From the Gwinnett Daily Post, “I continue to be amazed,” Barbara Riley said, adding that all the community support “continues to keep (Amanda’s) smile alive through the faces of other children.”
Amanda’s mother, Barbara spoke at the council meeting and told the crowded room, “We lived our life running from sport to sport and from court to court. And I’m the giving person but I accept this. This is the most giving wonderful gift you could give to her dad and myself. She loved basketball and our goal is to keep her memory alive and her smile alive and you’re definitely keeping our smile alive by approving this, by there being courts in her name. I cannot thank you all enough”. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the chambers.
Again, I can only say I was truly blessed to learn more of the Amanda Riley story. Below is a link to the Amanda Riley Foundation where you can get involved.
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