Rachel Beckwith

Rachel Beckwith (born June 12, 2002 in the United States ; † July 23, 2011 in Seattle ) was a girl from Issaquah , Washington , USA , who became known for her willingness to donate to those in need.

Life

At the age of five, Rachel Beckwith had her long hair completely cut off against her parents' wishes in order to donate it to “Locks of Love”, an organization that makes wigs for children who have lost their hair , for example through chemotherapy .

In 2011 she gave up birthday presents and asked the guests in her birthday invitation to donate nine dollars for the well construction in Africa instead. She wanted to raise $ 300 in this way for the charity "charity: water", which aims to supply the population in developing countries with clean drinking water and which she had met in her Protestant church in Issaquah , a small town near Seattle . She missed this goal, but at least she raised $ 220 on her 9th birthday.

On July 20, 2011, Rachel was seriously injured in a pile-up on Interstate 90 in Bellevue and was admitted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with a traumatic brain injury and a spinal cord trauma . Her sister and mother, who were in the car, got away with minor injuries. In the days when the doctors were fighting for Rachel's life, neighbors and school friends donated in Rachel's name to their aid project. Rachel's story spread around Seattle. Before long, $ 42,000 had been donated on her behalf.

When there was no longer any hope of an end to the unconsciousness, Rachel's parents agreed to turn off the life support devices. She died on July 23rd. Your organs have been donated. Rachel's relief effort was not over yet. By the time the fundraiser closed on October 1, 2011, 31,980 people had donated a total of $ 1,271,713. According to “charity: water”, a well can be built in Africa for $ 5,000.

Web links

• Rachel's Last Fund-Raiser obituary for Rachel Beckwith, Aug. 10, 2011 in The New York Times

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Issaquah girl, 9, dies after Bellevue pileup ( Memento of the original from November 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Report by Warren Kagarise in The Issaquah Press , July 26, 2011. 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Rachel’s Last Fund Raiser . Column by Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times , Aug 10, 2011.