For her 9th birthday, Rachel Beckwith asked people to donate to charity:water rather then give her presents. Sadly when her birthday arrived she was $80 short of her goal of raising just $300 for charity:water.
A month after her birthday she died in a car crash, in the month since her death, donations on her page have reached $1.1 million for bringing water to children in Africa.
Today, August 19th, is World Humanitarian Day 2011, and I found out Rachel’s Story on Mashable's article of 12 incredible internat activists who made a difference.
I don’t often write pieces about charity here on my blog, because I figure people won’t read them, but Rachel’s story touched my heart. When setting up her donation page she wrote this:
On June 12th 2011, I’m turning 9. I found out that millions of people don’t live to see their 5th birthday. And why? Because they didn’t have access to clean, safe water so I’m celebrating my birthday like never before. I’m asking from everyone I know to donate to my campaign instead of gifts for my birthday. Every penny of the money raised will go directly to fund freshwater projects in developing nations. Even better, every dollar is “proved” when the projects are complete, and photos and GPS coordinates are posted using Google Earth. My goal is to raise $300 by my birthday, June 12, 2011. Please consider helping me.
Thank you so much!!!
As I said, she didn’t reach her goal before her birthday. $300 would have been enough to give clean water to 15 people. After her untimely death she has raised enough to provide clean water to nearly 60,000 people.
Let’s honor the memory of this extraordinary child by helping her raise even more, her $1.1 million will go far, $2 million will go even farther. Visit her donation page to help out.