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Keeping KiKi's Memory Alive By Helping Another Child In Need

By Justin Breen | April 12, 2016 5:36am | Updated on April 12, 2016 3:18pm
 Rita Angelini with Gabriel Gonzalez, 6. Angelini started a fundraiser with hopes of raising $70,000; so far she's helped raise $55,000.
Rita Angelini with Gabriel Gonzalez, 6. Angelini started a fundraiser with hopes of raising $70,000; so far she's helped raise $55,000.
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Rita Angelini

CHICAGO — Rita Angelini believes her late daughter KiKi's spirit lives inside 6-year-old Gabriel Gonzalez.

KiKi Riess, who was born with severe cerebral palsy, died on Christmas morning 2011. She was 12 years old. KiKi's mom soon after met the Gonzalez family, who had a newborn Gabriel, also with cerebral palsy.

"He was just a baby, but he just reminded me of her," said Rita Angelini, a Jefferson Park native, and Resurrection College Prep and DePaul University graduate.

Sr. Editor Justin Breen shares the touching generosity of Rita Angelini.

So Rita Angelini teamed with the Friends of Nathan Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation supporting children with cerebral palsy and other debilitating diseases, and began a fundraiser for the Gonzalez family, hoping to raise $70,000 for a wheelchair-accessible van, even though when the effort started Gabriel wasn't in a wheelchair. Years later, Angelini's efforts have helped raise $55,000.

 Top: Rita Angelini with her daughter, Marina. Bottom row (from left): Brothers Samuel, Gabriel and Timothy Gonzalez.
Top: Rita Angelini with her daughter, Marina. Bottom row (from left): Brothers Samuel, Gabriel and Timothy Gonzalez.
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Rita Angelini

"I wish that there were adequate words to describe our feelings, but there are not," Gabriel's mom, Yvonne, said. "Few things are as humbling as realizing that your best efforts still fall short of meeting your child's needs. We are incredibly blessed to have [Rita] along on our journey."

Angelini, who now lives in Florida, said the fundraiser is one of many things she does to keep her daughter's memory alive. She's also working on a memoir about KiKi that she's hoping to pitch to publishers this weekend.

"She touched so many lives," Angelini said of KiKi. "I don't want her story to die. People believe that special needs children are a burden, but she was such a blessing. Yes, it was a struggle, but she was a blessing. Just her smile and her special look at life."

The Gonzalez family currently has a minivan for transporting Gabriel. They have to lift him out of his wheelchair and place him into a car seat, then separately hoist the wheelchair into the trunk.

Angelini said having a wheelchair-accessible van would "give them the freedom to just enjoy an outing without the stress."

"I'm helping this family," Angelini said.

For more information on donating to the Gonzalez family, click here to go to the Friends of Nathan Foundation website and indicate that this is a “Tribute Donation” to Gabriel’s Van Fund, or mail donations to: The Friends of Nathan Foundation; 1061 Warwick Circle N.; North Hoffman Estates, IL 60169 (Write Gabriel's Van on the check)

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