Community members filled Manhattan Beach with purple ribbons - the color of epilepsy awareness - on Wednesday in honor of Ryan James, who passed away a year ago this week at age 18 from an epileptic seizure. 

A group of more than 25 volunteers, led by Madeline Kaplan and Sofia Luis, gathered on Tuesday night and mapped out streets across East Manhattan Beach to cover with ribbons. 

"We had no idea our friends were doing that and were so touched to see purple ribbons everywhere in memory of Ryan," Nancy Hesterberg, James' mother, told MB News on Thursday. 

Hesterberg continued: "It started last year on the day of Ryan’s memorial service. Our neighbors Kacha Keever and Ann Ozawa distributed purple ribbons with a note about Ryan to every home on our block. They asked everyone to keep their ribbon up through that weekend. I remember stepping outside and thinking, 'Oh wow - someone tied a ribbon around our tree for Ryan.' Then we walked our dog and realized purple ribbons were up and down our block. It was a beautiful, unexpected gesture on that incredibly difficult weekend. To this day, most of our neighbors never removed the ribbons. They are now faded, but still on most trees or mailboxes.

"On Ryan’s birthday, another friend refreshed and expanded the ribbons in our neighborhood. But now this is a whole another level of kindness and compassion. We are so grateful for our amazing community," she said. 

(A full reel of photos is on Manhattan Beach News Instagram.)