I’m sure most of you have heard, but on Wednesday, July 20th, 9 year old Rachel Beckwith was in a horrible car accident on I-90 in Bellevue. She suffered severe spine trauma and passed away on Saturday, July 23rd. Rachel was a part of my Eastlake Church family and Eastlake is where she learned about charity:water. Before this tragic event, Rachel had started her own campaign and gave up presents for her June birthday so more families around the globe could have the basic right to clean water. Rachel raised $240 before her birthday...just short of her $300 goal. Since she went on to heaven, she has raised over $850,000 and counting!!! Copy and paste the link below to see her progress:

http://mycharitywater.org/rachels9thbirthday

I had been planning on giving up my birthday for charity:water ever since our fundraising event at Eastlake last year, but it was Rachel's story that inspired me to really get in gear! After all, if a 9 year old can give up presents for charity, so can I!! I'm turning 33 years old on August 17th, and instead of buying me a drink or giving me gifts, I'm asking that you donate to my birthday campaign! All of the money raised will go to build freshwater projects for people in developing nations. A billion people in the world are living without clean water and 4,500 children will die TODAY due to water related diseases. Because of charity: water's unique model, 100% of all donations go directly to water project costs, and each donation is tracked to the village it helped when projects are complete. Your donation is also 100% tax deductible!

Thank you for partnering with me to make a difference in the lives of others, and God bless Rachel for being such an incredible example at such a young age!

xoxo,
Heather