09/14/2026
This is Samuel.
A joyful little boy playing with his baby brother. A young baseball player. A high school wrestler. A determined martial artist who wanted so badly to become the youngest to earn his black belt. He set that goal, worked for it, and earned it.
Samuel grew into an extraordinary, strong, loving, and well rounded young man. Throughout his life, he also endured severe and debilitating epilepsy. Because the disease affected his brain, people could not see the battle he was fighting simply by looking at him.
Samuel’s story reminds us that we cannot always see what another person is going through. We often judge what we see on the outside without understanding the illness, pain, grief, fear, or private struggles taking place within.
He fought in more ways than most people ever knew. His courage mattered. His life mattered. His ripple continues through the Samuel Barbosa Memorial Touch Tank in Floating Sea Café.
Soon, FSA RECS will invite our community to take the Ripple Effect Challenge in Samuel’s loving memory, right here in Floating Sea Café.
Choose understanding before judgment.
Choose kindness before assumptions.
One small act can create a ripple that never ends.
The Ripple Effect Challenge is coming soon.
Fight on, fighter.
