In 2011 American child Rachel Beckwith tragically lost her life in a car accident at the age of 9. She had recently donated her 9th birthday to the charity Water skipping her party and birthday gifts – so kids she’d never met could have clean water. She raised $220 – enough to help seven people. But after her death, word of her selfless less spread around the world and more than 31,000 strangers began to donate $9 or more in her honor. Her $220 turned into more than $1.2M funding 143 water projects in Tigray for 37,000 people. On the one year anniversary of her death her parents and grandparents came to Ethiopia to meet thousands of the men women and children that now had clean water because of Rachel. But the story did not end there. 408 of the 31,000 people that donated to Rachel’s campaign followed her lead and ran fundraising campaigns of their own. Five years later that group raised another $1.7M for clean water. Rachels story touched and continues to touch hearts around the world and has now impacted more than 100,000 lives. In a world today seemingly full of so much hatred and violence, Rachel’s life remains a beautiful reminder of the capacity we have to love and serve each other.
Read all about how this amazing charity began and how it continues to impact communities around the world including Ethiopia with access to fresh water – a basic human right.
