Rachel Koelzer
2033 Sandra Sagear Wall of Courage Honoree
Although I’m not very familiar with the array of challenges Rachel overcame prior to the challenge of losing her hair, my experience with Rachel was undoubtedly impactful.
During my years of running fundraising events for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, I recruited dozens of persons to raise money for childhood cancer research by way of shaving their heads (and asking friends/family to pledge donations in the process).
It was rare that my female peers stepped forward to be shorn’. Even more rare were women who went all in and led a robust fundraising campaign to maximize their impact. Rachel proved to be the exception to the rule.
She was one of the most dynamic fundraisers we encountered in 5+ years of running the event and it was clear that she was going to be a force to be reckoned with no matter what she did in life.
Submitted by Eric Bacyinski, Rachel’s friend
Organizations:
Adoptees for Justice: https://www.adopteesforjustice.org/
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium: https://nakasec.org/
