Catalina Andrade announced new efforts Thursday to help families impacted by gun violence while still calling for justice in her son's case.
"He didn't get a chance to be a dad," Andrade said. "He didn't get a chance to graduate college... That was his big dream."
In the Gage Park community, where those dreams were nurtured, there is now an effort to keep Miguel Rios' name alive.
"The sun is out. Why? Because Miguel is shining for us," said Heidy Mendez-Grimaldo, founder of A Blessing Hand.
"We want to announce to you, today, that Miguel Angel Memorial Project is an official non-for-profit..." United Giving Hope President Julie Contreras said.
Gage Park is where the Miguel Angel Rios Memorial Project was born, four years to the date after the 18-year-old it is named after was murdered in Little Village.
"This helps me cope and keep my son's memory alive, and when I could help another mother or a family, that's what helps me," Andrade said.
She said Rios was driving from his girlfriend's home when someone shot him near Washtenaw and 24th Street in Little Village. The teen then crashed his vehicle into a tree after being hit multiple times by gunfire.
"They shot him and robbed him," Andrade said.
His mother was out of the country when she got the call.
"It was very heartbreaking for me, and I just had to put in my mind that I had to come back home to arrange a funeral," Andrade said.
However, out of the pain comes a new purpose, with the community joining his mom to renew the calls for police to solve the case and bring Rios' killer to justice.
"The first seed she planted, today, we hope that it grows," Contreras said.
"I feel sorry for these people because, maybe, they didn't have the love that my son had," Andrade said.
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