This Year's 'Emily's Ride' Biggest Ever
LITTLETON, Colo. (CBS4) - Eight years ago Saturday 16-year-old Emily Keyes died. She was killed by a gunman who held her and six other girls hostage inside Platte Canyon High School.
Ever since then the community comes together yearly for Emily's Ride.
On Sunday, bikers, students, parents and friends filled the parking lots of Columbine High School for the annual Emily's Parade, which was the largest ever.
"This is part of the ripple," Emily's mother Ellen Keyes said.
It's an event Ellen says keeps getting bigger and bigger.
"It's fabulous, there's a lot of heart here … a lot of very good hearts," she said.
Riders travel from Columbine to Platte Canyon High School to raise money for the I Love U Guys Foundation -- the words Emily texted to her family while held hostage inside her high school.
"What we do with the foundation is move people from apathy to attention to action," Emily's father John-Michael Keyes told the crowd.
The Keyes family says it focuses on promoting school safety and what more can be done.
"We have programs today in more than 7,500 schools in the U.S. and Canada," John-Michael said.
As family and friends remember Emily, and others whose lives were lost, students from Columbine donated $1,800 to the I Love U Guys Foundation on Sunday.
Emily's parents say moving forward is about not only remembering, but also doing what we can to prevent future tragedies.
"Emily gave us a voice, but from that classroom she also told us what to say – 'I love you guys,' " John-Michael said.
LINK: The I Love U Guys Foundation
