Update: More than $550,000 raised in honor of girl who died

In honor of her 9th birthday, Rachel Beckwith asked friends and family to donate money to bring clean water to an African village. She was close to her goal when she died over the weekend.

Nearly 16,000 people have made donations to a clean water project in honor of a nine-year-old Washington state girl. By Wednesday afternoon, there were donations totaling more than $550,000 to "charity: water" in Rachel's honor.

On a website set up by Rachel and her mother before her June 12 birthday, she explained that, rather than receiving gifts, her goal was to help others.

The total raised has been growing exponentially since the weekend.