Letter to the Editor: Amanda Riley Foundation Changing the World One Child at a Time

As of today, we have raised over $165,000, and have worked directly with approximately 60 children battling solid tumor cancers. In addition to working with our 60 families, we also support all inpatients families at the AFLAC Cancer Center at Scottish Rite on a regular basis.

This year alone our support has included serving meals, supplying goody bags to inpatient kids, donating care packages and thousands of dollars' worth of gift cards to the families of children with cancer. We have also supplied the parents lounge with hundreds of snacks.

The coolest thing we have done this year is Christmas in July where we took five car loads of toys/gifts to the hospital and all inpatient kids and their siblings were given a large shopping bag and were permitted to fill it up with whatever they wanted. In addition to the gifts, each child received a back pack full of school supplies, a blanket and a stuffed animal. Parents also received a tote bag full of items they can use during their hospital stay and numerous trips to the clinic.  

We are only beginning though, and have many more goals to reach before the end of the year. The holidays are just around the corner and we are gearing up to once again provide Thanksgiving meals and Christmas presents for our families.

Last year we took care of Christmas presents for 16 families with children battling cancer, a total of 52 family members.

This year we hope to do even more.

We are also hoping to start taking meals on a weekly basis to Scottish Rite instead of bi-weekly and to eventually start supporting children diagnosed with brain cancers as well as our solid tumor children.

In addition to supporting the families, we will continue to strive to increase awareness about childhood cancer. 

Our foundation has always been very fortunate to have the support of Snellville and the support continues to grow.  Last September, the Snellville City Council declared Sept. 12 Amanda Riley Day and September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. 

Most recently we had the pleasure of being the guest speaker at the Snellville Commerce Club meeting.  We were also honored to be the recipient of a in Snellville. The Brookwood community showed their continued support by participating in our first annual Gold-Out Football game at BHS and Gold-Out Day with the Brookwood Football Association. 

Get Involved

Our next fundraising event will be a Safety Fair which will take place on Saturday, Nov. 3 from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. on the Snellville Towne Green.  This event will be hosted by New London School of Driving and all proceeds will be donated to the Amanda Riley Foundation.  There will be a Live Reenactment of an accident, a driving course presented by the Snellville Police Department, a rollover vehicle demonstration, live music, vendor booths and much more. 

For information about securing a vendor booth please visit our website at www.amandarileyfoundation.org.  Booths are FREE with a $50.00 tax deductible donation.  Entry to this event is free and it will be a great event for parents to bring children too, especially teen drivers. 

For further reading:

• Brookwood Student Stands in the Gap for Kids with Cancer
• More...