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Rachel Beckwith had a simple wish for her ninth birthday. No presents. Instead, she wanted people to donate to a charity that provides clean, safe driving water for kids in far away lands. Her goal: $300. She almost made it. By the time her birthday came and went, she had raised $220, just $80 short. She vowed to forgo presents on her birthday next year too, but she never got the chance to try.
Rachel was killed in a chain reaction crash on I-90 outside of Seattle. There was nothing the doctors could do. Rachel's family and friends figured the best memorial was to keep Rachel's water drive going. So they did -- and in came a flood of love and caring.
Her story spread -- on Twitter and Facebook. Actress Alyssa Milano tweeted her millions of fans. So did Seahawk quarterback Matt Hasselback.
Rachel's $220 has now exploded into well over $600,000 and isn't done yet.
She set out to help 15 kids in Africa get clean water -- she's now helping more than 30,000.
If there's any consolation for her inconsolable parents, it may be that their daughter touched more lives by nine years old than most of us will in a lifetime, and in her death she taught the rest of us how to live.
Leave a Comment:
Mr. Cowan:
An inspirational but heart-wrenching story about Rachel, such a wonderfully sweet and loving girl Her
heart was in the right place.
Sincerely
Phyllis Kunz
Rest in peace, dear Rachel. Thank you for your generous heart.
I'd really be interested to know how much of that $615,000 is actually used for the purpose that this little girl wanted it for!!
It's sad to think that most of the $615, 000 will never be used to provide water for the children that Rachel was concerned about!!
The amount of money raised will buy a lot of water for Rachel's cause.........I hope it doesn't evaporate before anyone gets a drink.....
the army uses an interesting method for processing sea water into drinkable water and they store it in this HUGE bladder. that would be great for countries on the ocean. it's amazing what our armed forces can do, army corps of engineers? they did get that panama canal done in spite of the horrible malaria from the mosquitoes. they lost alot of soldiers, even the wife of the officer in charge died from malaria. i had to turn over my tamale pot with water in it in the backyard because i don't have the energy to drive to the pond business to get those great donut holes that you can put in the water for the larvae to eat the poison. had to use those at my parents' house because mom's potted plants were infested with mosquitoes. it's a wonder they didn't die from west nile virus. clean water is a biggie in the third world countries. katrina had it's fair share of dyptheria, cholera and typhoid. wouldn't be surprised if brian didn't have a touch of that when he got sick down there. hope haiti is still getting good help with that, too. and i'm sure it was a big issue in myanmar from that tsunami. that is great that rachel was thinking about clean water and how to do something about it. kudos to her parents and her teachers. i hope they tell all of those kids about rachel, they will remember her into their old age and if alot of them are in africa, they will look to the sky to find her star:-) remembrance goes a long way towards becoming an immortal, just ask those buried in arlington cemetery, we save our best for the future. those that are remembered never die, their spirit is great. best, anna martina
Henry the negative cheapscape. Pretty heartless of you to knock down a child's dream, and an organization that commits 100% of donated funds to the project... look it up your lazy self. And once you verified it ... put $90 bucks in there, or be the biggest full this site has ever scene. I've donated twice, and will again next week, and once a year after that... everyone... including YOU deserves CLEAN WATER from a CLEAN OPERATING WELL, which this deserving organization does around the world. So do some research next time before inserting you BIG FOOT in to that BIG but UNWISE mouth of yours.
Henry the Cheapskate. Didn't you learn any thing from Rachel. No heart no HOPE. 100% of these donate funds go out into the field to dig proper wells for CLEAN WATER. Don't know what you think 100% equals too, but I won't want you grading my math work, nor being an example to any one I know. Best to do your home work before you go out and tell the world how smart your not. I hope you never have children, they'll grow up in world of no HOPE and no JOY. The rest of the world, GO and support this cause, because it is the RIGHT thing to do, I have twice, and I shall next week again also.... CHARGE !!!!!
update on that ancient greek spaceship that i've been envisioning . . . . it ran on gravaton generators and they have a manufacturing area for gravaton generators where the russians, who are the only ones who understand how those generators work because they have a serious viking root, wireless electricity, are going to build a bunch of small generators for the clean water well pumps for the third world countries:-) i take that back, nikola tesla probably understands how they work, too. anyway, wouldn't that be grand? they found some, here, in the belly of the hohokam indian archeological dig on ft. huachuca. maybe the army corps of engineers can get them up and running and can sell wireless electricity to california, arizona, new mexico and texas. if the military has an income base from the sale of electricity, that would be awesome. and those would be BIG revenues! i wonder if there are hidden gravaton generators on the east coast . . . . . where is indiana jones when you need him?!!! maybe those ancient greek maps of the world as it once was that are on the spaceship show where the huge metropolises were and we can start by looking there . . . . yep, the debt crisis definitely stressed out my brain and has my overactive imagination running wild, but there are worse things to think about . . . . i'm thinking of you, harry reid, and poor yucca mountain, no more nuclear plants and we could close down the existing ones. best, anna martina