Rachel Beckwith was going to be nine years old, and her mother was planning a party. Rachel told her mom she did not want any presents. She had read about an NGO which raises money and builds wells in Africa so people can have clean, fresh water, and she told her mother she wanted to create a web site so people could donate. She asked that people donate nine dollars, a dollar for every year of her life. Rachel had a goal of raising three hundred dollars, and she came up a little short as she received donations totaling 220 dollars. She told her mother she would try harder next year.Rachel, according to her mother, was always thinking of others. When she was seven she cut off all of her hair and donated it for child cancer victims who were undergoing chemotherapy
Two months after her ninth birthday, Rachel was traveling with her family on I-90 near Seattle, Washington, when a trailer jack-knifed into a logging truck. Logs tumbled down the highway and one smashed into the back of Rachel's car. Critically injured, Rachel was rushed to a hospital where she was taken off life support the next day and died.
The news began to spread about Rachel's story and her birthday wish. In no time people all over the world began to make donations on her web page. Within a month, over 30,000 people had donated a total of $1.2 million to Charity Water, the organization created to bring water to African villages. Charity Water flew Rachel's mother, Samantha Paul, to Ethiopia to give her a first-hand look at what Rachel's generosity has created - the ability to help bring water to 149 different communities throughout Ethiopia.
RIP Rachel.. Much Love & Respect
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