Beautiful Little Girl

This past week, there was a tragic accident on I-90 at the 405 interchange involving somewhere around 14 vehicles.  My immediate thought when I heard the news was that I hoped everyone would survive and that I didn't know anyone in the accident being that it occurred during a common commute route for some and near my office.  Turns out, that the one person that passed away from injuries caused from this horrible accident is the daughter of a friend of mine from jr high and the daughter of a co-worker of mine.  As with many people in the Seattle/Bellevue area that have heard this story, they can't get this beautiful little girl, Rachel Beckwith, out of their mind.  In her short nine years, she has subsequently changed the lives of thousands of children in Africa all because she requested no gifts for her birthday last month and instead requested that her friends make a donation to a charity that provides safe drinking water in developing counties.  When Rachel was taken off life support on Saturday, she had officially reached her goal of $300.  Since Saturday, the total that Rachel has raised (as of a few minutes ago) is at an astonishing $125,000!  In honor of Rachel's memory, I've made my donation.  If you're interested in making a donation as well, you may do so here.

I unfortunately never met Rachel, but those that did should feel very lucky.  I have kept her parents Sam and Jacob, family and friends in my thoughts and prayers over the past few days as the loss they have experienced absolutely breaks my heart.  Please be sure to take a moment and hug your family and friends just a bit tighter because I can only imagine that Rachel's family and friends would give just about anything, at this moment, to give her one last hug. 

The latest article on CNN reagarding Rachel and lives she has changed may be read here.