I am so proud I could just pop...

this isn't photography related (I'm sure you've noticed not all my posts are). But I will be taking pictures as this unfolds to share with you. My daughter, who is still 7, won't be 8 until Sunday, heard about Miss Rachel Beckwith and her inspiring, tragic story.

Rachel Beckwith

Rachel was raising money for charity to provide clean water for people in Africa. She had just turned 9 years old. Little Rachel lost her life a little more than a week ago in a horrific car accident. She had not yet reached her goal of $300 before she passed, but was only $80 short. But since the accident, word got around about her charity, and now many wonderful generous people have donated money to Rachel's charity fund in excess of $496,000. My Abby was blown away, that Rachel was just a kid like her, but had big dreams to help others. It inspired her to try to raise money to help a charity that she likes.

It is a shame that Rachel never got to see her goal met while she was with us here on earth. But I do believe that she knows now. Rachel has inspired so many of us with her generosity and kindness to others.

My daughter has always been my little dreamer. When she was 5 she donated her long beautiful hair to Locks of Love  She had full knowledge of what she was doing, and she was the one who talked me into letting her do it when I didn't want to cut her hair. When we filled out the form to send the hair in, Abby was the one who made sure it was sent off and celebrated at the mailbox.

(we changed shirts due to the amount of hair sticking to her clothes lol)

Then last Christmas while she was 7, early in the morning when she could have slept in and watched cartoons and been inside away from the bitter cold winter wind, my baby bundled up warm and happily went with me to serve as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army outside the food court at the mall. And she was a pro at friendlness, greeting people, and thanking them.

Abby was so moved by Rachel, that she decided she wants to start her own charity fund, to purchase a water pump and seed growing kit through World Vision.

The details for the water pump are HERE

and the details for the seed kit are HERE

Abby needs $252 to make her dream come true.

To get us started we opened up a facebook page called "Abby's Dream" letting friends and family members know that she is raising the funds to purchase these items. We are in the process of working on a bank account. The bank tells us we need a form from the IRS so they can title her bank account Abby's dream. This way, people she doesnt know can send her money as well. Plus when anyone donates, they'll know their money is going exactly where it is promised to go. Our other dilemma, the IRS needs a $62 P.O. Box for an address on file, otherwise we'd have to give them our home address for the number, and we don't want the world knowing where we live for obvious safety reasons. (see our bump in the road??).

So right now we are both feeling a bit discouraged. I am going to the bank tomorrow to see if they will let us open her a regular account to deposit the funds & for now we'll just take donations from those we know, while we work on the IRS thing. At least with a bank account, we can work on setting up a paypal thing online so others can donate too.

We are also going to put together a bake sale and a raffle. I am going to raffle off a photo package and see if other area business's can offer us something to raffle off as well.

She is also working on her fundraiser chart. This way when she meets her goal in incriments of $25, she can color in the graph and take a picture of it to show her "fans" her progress.

If you are reading this message and you are able to make a donation to Abby's Dream, plus contact me at christine@cgwardphotography.com or abbys.dream@yahoo.com

We are taking cash & checks at this time, but for now checks will have to be in my name, Christine Ward.

She said if she gets more money than her goal, she will simply buy something else through World Vision. Any leftover funds that are not used after that will be general a World Vision donation.

Her goal is to raise $252 by the end of August, when summer is just about over. When she meets her goal, she can make her purchase and let everyone know on her facebook page!

I am so proud to have a daughter who such a giver at a very young age. I told her to keep dreaming her dreams, and to dream those dreams BIG!