Seattle: In honor of her 9th birthday, Rachel Beckwith asked friends and family to donate money to bring clean water to an African village. Rachel was close to meeting her goal of raising $300 when she died last week after a car accident.
In her memory, strangers have now made her dream come true many times over.
By Wednesday afternoon, some 10,000 people had donated more than $400,000 to "charity: water" in Rachel's honor, many in gifts of $9 each. On a website set up by Rachel and her mother before her birthday, she explained the inspiration for her project.
"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," she wrote. "I'm asking from everyone I know to donate to my campaign instead of gifts for my birthday."...
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02:22 PM, Jul 28, 2011
