One year ago this month, 9-year-old Rachel Beckwith died in a car crash and inspired people around the world to donate more than a million dollars to a charity in her honor. Her mom 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 to give money to "charity: water" instead of buying her presents. She was close to that goal when she died in July 2011.

Support for her cause swelled after 13-car pileup on Interstate 90 near her Bellevue, Wash., home. Nearly 32,000 people donated $1.27 million by the time the charity closed her campaign.