“Do good deeds in her name.”
Advice to her family given by Phra Krupituksarakhun
Pah Leurat, Thailand
December 2000

Our friend Chelsea Morrison died as a passenger in a car accident in January of 2000, just one week before her sixteenth birthday. The first holiday after her death, and probably running away from Christmas trees, her brother Tommy took their mother to the tiny village of Pah Leurat in Thailand where, in happier days, he had spent eight weeks doing community service. Back then, Tommy had become close to the Abbot of the monastery.

In their grief, seeking solace and answers, Tommy had the need to return to the Monastery with his mother. When they asked the Abbot, “How do we heal from this loss?” he offered, through translation,

“Do good deeds in her name.”

Upon their return, The Chelsea Morrison Foundation was established and is funded by a Birthday Letter sent on each of Chelsea’s birthdays. All those she touched remember her every February 1st and donate in her memory.

The Chelsea Morrison Foundation is now the vessel and expression to ‘do good deeds in her name,’ so that those of us who loved and miss her can heal from our loss. We have made contributions to efforts that reflect the essence of Chelsea, from education for girls in Afghanistan and after school programs for the children of war torn Kosovo, to non-invasive medical equipment for children living with AIDS in her home town of New York City.

In the five years since her passing, hundreds of Chelsea’s friends have now grown from their teen years into college students and young professionals. The impact of their kind friend remains with them and as their hearts have healed from the loss, as the Abbot predicted, their desire to pass along the gifts they received from Chelsea remains.

We continue to make donations to non-profit organizations, who like us, wish to enhance the lives of children with kindness. The Chelsea Morrison Foundation is in a period of transformation. As its members and their friends grow into young, passionate, motivated adults, so the foundation must change to suit their needs. These young people now strive to actively participate in something that they are proud of and something that is their own.

To this end, the Chelsea Morrison Foundation is providing its members and friends with a meaningful, hands on experience and we request that our donations be supported by our chosen charities so that we can offer Chelsea’s friends a service project that lives up to their standards for this foundation.

With this, the Chelsea Morrison Foundation has grown from friends of Chelsea’s - to friends of her friends and has become the place where young adults express their natural desire to give back. Chelsea’s spirit is so far reaching that people who had never even met her are excited about this foundation and its projects. These hundreds of young adults have found much pride in taking leadership rolls, working on committees, designing our service days, and working side by side with the children.

Please read the speech given by Chelsea’s mother describing the CARE projects that the Chelsea Morrison Foundation donated to in 2002. It is in this speech, given in New York City to more than 200 charitable participants of CARE, that Chelsea’s mom captures the task of the Foundation to look for projects that reflect her daughter’s unique purity of heart and generosity to others.

And most importantly, reflected in this speech, you will get a sense of the overwhelming and remarkable impact that our Dear Sweet Chelsea had on all who loved her, and just how powerful we can all be, to ‘do good deeds in her name’ and heal the loss of this beloved child, while offering children in need the gift of goodness that Chelsea gave to us.

As expressed in one of the past Birthday Letters:

“We rest in the knowledge that while Chelsea does not seem available to us in our daily lives, her gifts of kindness, enthusiasm and youthful charm are now the virtues we pass along to others in her name. We give needy children the same that we would have wanted for her, the same that all children deserve: a future. ”

To find out more about us or to become a sponsor of the foundation and its events,
please contact us.