• Woman sees wells built to fulfill her late daughter's wishes; 9yo hoped to raise $300 to bring clean
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[url]http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2018762878_girlswish25.html[/url] [quote]One year after 9-year-old Rachel Beckwith's death from a car crash inspired people around the world to donate more than $1 million to a charity in her honor, her mother is in Ethiopia this week visiting the water wells her philanthropy paid for. Rachel had hoped to raise $300 to bring clean water to an African village when she asked her friends and family, rather than buying her presents, to give money to the group called charity: water. She was close to that goal in July 2011 when she was killed in a 13-car pileup on Interstate 90 near her Bellevue home. Support for her cause surged, and nearly 32,000 people donated $1.27 million by the time the charity closed her campaign in October. Many of those gifts from strangers were for $9 each — a dollar for each year of her short life. Her mother, Samantha Paul, said Tuesday her trip to the Tigray region of Ethiopia one year after her daughter died hasn't been as hard as she thought it would be. Seeing the need for water in this area and the people that Rachel's campaign helped has allowed Paul to focus on Rachel's gift instead of her death, she said in a telephone interview. "It made me realize how blessed I am even though I don't have Rachel with me anymore," Paul said. After arriving Sunday, Paul, her parents, her pastor and some leaders from the charity organization visited two villages that still don't have clean water, so people must collect it from ponds and carry it home. Next, the group stopped to see a well in progress and help with the drilling. On Monday, they went to some villages that already have wells from Rachel's campaign and were greeted with a parade, welcome parties, signs, poems, speeches and an invitation to plant a tree in a new community park named for Rachel. Paul has been impressed by how far the Ethiopian people have gone to make her feel welcome and to show their appreciation for Rachel. "I feel inadequate. What did I do? They were so grateful and humble — just amazing people," she said. Paul doesn't take credit for Rachel's generosity, saying her child inspired her, not the other way around. Rachel had a strong feeling of empathy for others, naturally reaching out to other kids who were struggling at school or with problems at home. In kindergarten, she donated her hair to a charity that makes wigs for kids who lost their hair because of cancer treatments. Twice in her short life, she gave up Christmas presents so her family could adopt others in need, her mom said. After their church, Eastlake Community Church in Bothell, raised more than $400,000 for charity: water, Rachel expressed her desire to raise money for the charity and help kids in Africa. Rachel's campaign quickly became the largest in the history of the effort, which depends mostly on individuals to invite their friends and families to give money to celebrate a birthday, wedding or other event. Charity: water estimates each $20 donation is enough to provide one person with clean drinking water for decades and $5,000 is enough for a village. The New York-based charity has raised more than $60 million in the past six years and supported more than 6,600 projects in 20 countries. The money is spent mostly to dig wells, improve water systems or catch rainwater, and the projects usually serve entire communities. Rachel's family plans to continue its philanthropic efforts, with a new campaign in honor of Rachel's younger sister, Sienna, who is celebrating her third birthday. And Paul is making plans to start her own nonprofit, Rachel's Wishing Well, to encourage more people to give back. "There's something about Rachel and her story that has touched people and inspired them," Paul said. "She was such a special girl."[/quote] [img]http://seattletimes.com/ABPub/2012/07/24/2018762716.jpg[/img] [quote]Rachel Beckwith, 9, was killed in a car crash a year ago. At the time she was raising money to build wells in Africa.[/quote] :(
It's disgusting we need a tragedy like this to make people donate money the the poor and starving
[QUOTE=download;36987653]It's disgusting we need a tragedy like this to make people donate money the the poor and starving[/QUOTE]I don't think its fair to say that her death was necessary to prompt people to donate. I think its more a case of her death brought attention and awareness to her cause.
[QUOTE=download;36987653]It's disgusting we need a tragedy like this to make people donate money the the poor and starving[/QUOTE] What a depressive way of looking at things
[QUOTE=download;36987653]It's disgusting we need a tragedy like this to make people donate money the the poor and starving[/QUOTE] [quote]Rachel Beckwith's death from a car crash inspired people [b]around the world[/b] to donate more than $1 million[/quote] I'd be very surprised if all of them knew about her before she died. She didn't have a massive campaign that was on the news or thrown around the world, nor were her selfless exploits known about worldwide. Its amazing that just the story her life has left behind inspires people to donate.
[QUOTE=download;36987653]It's disgusting we need a tragedy like this to make people donate money the the poor and starving[/QUOTE] I guess its true that some types of people will try to make a problem out of even the most beautiful things.
If heaven exists, she belongs in it.
[QUOTE=usaokay;36987663]at least everyone wins[/QUOTE] The little girl who died didn't win
[QUOTE=Dame Flawless;36987715]The little girl who died didn't win[/QUOTE] Or did she?
[QUOTE=Marbalo;36987786]But surely everyone is aware of the crisis in Africa?[/QUOTE] What is africa
It's great and everything that those folk in Ethopia now have a good water supply, no question about that, but my problem with this is that the money wasn't raised because eveyone thought about the Africans and their plight, they done it in memory of that girl. They didn't do it to save lives, they done it purely because it was her dying wish, and who the fuck denies a dead 9 year olds wishes?
[QUOTE=Marbalo;36987786]But surely everyone is aware of the crisis in Africa?[/QUOTE] It isn't that people don't know about it, but they just don't care. Rachel's death prompted them to actually care, and then they donated money to her cause.
[QUOTE=Pierrewithahat;36987832]It's great and everything that those folk in Ethopia now have a good water supply, no question about that, but my problem with this is that the money wasn't raised because eveyone thought about the Africans and their plight, they done it in memory of that girl. They didn't do it to save lives, they done it purely because it was her dying wish, and who the fuck denies a dead 9 year olds wishes?[/QUOTE] You get jaded pretty quickly if you keep hearing of death tolls around the globe on a daily basis and grew up with the history that it's always kind of been this way and doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon. You push it into the back of your mind as a static background image, something that you don't have to fight, something you can't fight, some faceless, unchanging increase in numbers and statistics. All that while all you want is stop worrying after a stressful day of tedious work where you had to deal with the most annoying customers and colleagues known to man, not to mention the small pile of personal issues and stuff. Suddenly putting a human face on that makes people step back and review the issue, even if it's just for a day or so. You ask yourself why you aren't more like that little girl, when your spirit and drive and dreams faded away. And then you pay a little something to get the guilt off your consciousness. I worded that like a terrible Noire movie, but it does have some applicability.
I remember this girl from the articles about her a year ago when she passed away. Good to see that her legacy lives on like this.
[QUOTE=Marik Bentusi;36988078]You get jaded pretty quickly if you keep hearing of death tolls around the globe on a daily basis and grew up with the history that it's always kind of been this way and doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon. You push it into the back of your mind as a static background image, something that you don't have to fight, something you can't fight, some faceless, unchanging increase in numbers and statistics. All that while all you want is stop worrying after a stressful day of tedious work where you had to deal with the most annoying customers and colleagues known to man, not to mention the small pile of personal issues and stuff. Suddenly putting a human face on that makes people step back and review the issue, even if it's just for a day or so. You ask yourself why you aren't more like that little girl, when your spirit and drive and dreams faded away. And then you pay a little something to get the guilt off your consciousness. I worded that like a terrible Noire movie, but it does have some applicability.[/QUOTE] I see the point you're making and I agree it's far easier to just break it all down to statistics and remove the human element, but that's precisely what we need right now, we need to bring the human element back into it and not like those piss poor guilt trip adverts on tv, we need to actually remember that as a species billions of us are in poverty and squalor and that they need help because they're people. We need to do it because it's the right thing to do, not so we can smile and say "I donate to charity!" Not because someone we loved, cared for or felt sympathy for wanted us to do it. I dunno maybe I'm just sick and tired of people doing good things for the wrong reasons.
[QUOTE=download;36987653]It's disgusting we need a tragedy like this to make people donate money the the poor and starving[/QUOTE] Sadly corporate consumerist capitalism is our modus operandi and giving to charity isn't profitable EXPLOIT EXPLOIT EXPLOIT
This is pretty heartwarming and depressing at the same time; i'm glad the money went towards Charity: Water, so the $1.2 million doesn't end up entering the pocket of some warlord. Safe clean drinking water should be a thing all beings have access to as their standard of living, and hopefully Charity: Water will be able to bring said clean water to those in dire need of the rains to bring much needed hydration and health to those who desperately need it. Also, that Rachel Bethwick kid sure seems to have been damn generous; donating her hair to help kids who lost theirs to cancer, giving up Christmas presents, and even now she's gone she's raised over a million dollars for safe water in Africa. Pity she died; if she'd lived who knows what good she coulda done in later years. It's this kinda thing that restores a bit of my faith in humanity.
[QUOTE=download;36987653]It's disgusting we need a tragedy like this to make people donate money the the poor and starving[/QUOTE] people do tend to do it anyway, this is just notable due to the fact it was the wish of a dead 9 year old child
[QUOTE=download;36987653]It's disgusting we need a tragedy like this to make people donate money the the poor and starving[/QUOTE] I just don't donate at all, it makes things simpler. [sp]I'm not in the position to donate money[/sp]
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