A 9-year-old girl provides a lesson in life and in death with actions

Monday, Aug. 15, 2011 | 2 a.m.

Rachel Beckwith wanted to make a difference in life. At 5 years old, she decided to have her long hair cut and donated to Locks of Love, a charity that makes wigs for children with cancer.

After her hair was cut, she grew it out so she could do it again.

A few years later, her church started raising money for a group called charity:water that digs wells in developing nations to provide clean and safe sources of water.

She decided to turn her 9th birthday into a fundraiser. Here was her request:

“On June 12th 2011, I’m turning 9. I found out that millions of people don’t live to see their 5th birthday. And why? Because they didn’t have access to clean, safe water so I’m celebrating my birthday like never before. I’m asking from everyone I know to donate to my campaign instead of gifts for my birthday.”

She had a goal of $300 and was disappointed she “only” raised $220.

On July 20, she was with her mother and younger sister when they were involved in a terrible car crash on a highway near Seattle. Rachel was rushed to the hospital critically injured — her spinal cord was severed.

Ryan Meeks, a pastor at Rachel’s church, was in Africa at the time touring sites where the charity was drilling. He talked to the group’s founder, Scott Harrison, who reactivated Rachel’s site and donated the money she needed to reach her goal. Church members then got the word out to see if they could help exceed it.

Before she died three days later, friends and family gathered around the hospital bed where she lay unconscious. As Nicholas Kristof reported Wednesday in The New York Times, they told her she had surpassed pop star Justin Bieber, who raised $47,544 for charity:water on his 17th birthday.

Her mother, Samantha Paul, said she would have been “ecstatic.”

“I think she secretly had a crush on him, but she would never admit it,” she said.

Her fundraising has not only passed Bieber but eclipsed him. Before Kristof’s column, the total was about $850,000. As of Friday, the total topped $1 million — a 10th of the total the charity has raised since it came into existence. More than 26,000 people have donated, many giving $9 in honor of her birthday, on her site: charitywater.org/Rachel.

Meeks told CNN that Rachel was an inspiration.

“For a 9-year-old kid, a huge step of faith would be to say, ‘Hey, for my birthday, I don’t want anything. Give to those who are in greater need,’ ” Meeks said. “And not everyone’s that mature at 90, and yet here she is modeling for us at the age of 9, how to live that kind of life.”

After she died, her parents fittingly had her hair cut and given to Locks of Love, and her organs were donated to children in need. The money that is being donated in her name will provide water for more people than she could have ever imagined.

As Meeks said, “Life is coming out of this death with Rachel’s generosity.”

Indeed.

Rachel Beckwith had a life well lived, and her actions will touch people for years to come. She is an inspiration and a role model for us all.