When tragedy strikes, it’s often hard to move forward. Healing can be difficult, but can hopefully serve a fulfilling purpose, not only for those immediately affected, but for an entire community. Inspired by the passing of their young son, one family is using Bellstrike as a catalyst for positive change, keeping his name and memory alive in the process through the Leo Israel Memorial Fund. 

When four-year-old Leo Israel of Larchmont, N.Y. fell ill with leukemia, it came as a shock, not only to his parents Caitlin and David, but to an entire community. Leo was the sort of kid others found a “joy to be around” — a happy, healthy and energetic four-year old. Leo was was suddenly diagnosed with the disease one week prior to the 2010 school year. After a courageous ten months, five-year-old Leo passed away the following July. 

Immediately, the tight-knit community rallied to support the family. “Everybody wanted to donate money to do something in his name,” Caitlin Israel said. “We came up with the idea of building a playground at our temple’s nursery school.” They soon set up the Leo Israel Memorial Fund to make those ideas a reality.

Though the idea of updating the school’s playground had been talked-about, Leo’s memory kick-started the process. But considering the innate grieving process and the inherent challenges of uniting the community, building a website and gathering donations proved to be tough.

The couple learned of Bellstrike through Swiss Miss, a popular Internet design blog. While both David and Caitlin are professional graphic designers with some web development experience, they decided that it was actually an easier and better route to go with Bellstrike. “The updating tools and management system that are connected to WePay were so simple. When something like this happens, the last thing you have is time. And Bellstrike made it happen in a few hours,” says David. “You guys had thought of things in the non-profit world that we were unaware existed and you provided a great-looking, easy way to make it happen quickly.”

“We’re particular about how things look,” says Caitlin. “We wanted to design a website, but it was overwhelming, especially at the time. For being a template-based system, Bellstrike was really visually appealing.”

“Bellstrike has been great, and they answer our e-mails within moments,” she continues. “It’s been so easy and we had it up so quickly! It’s amazing how real-time everything is — you can make a change and see it live.” 

“They basically thought it all through for us. Since our last blog entry, we’ve received at least $5,000 in donations. Plus, by linking to Facebook, our message has really spread. We get donations from people I haven’t seen since high school!” 

As of January 2012, the couple has raised the money needed to build the playground, has selected the contractors and even involved their daughter Hannah in the design process. Additional donations will go to further improvements for the playground, which is slated to be completed by July 2012, marking the one-year anniversary of Leo’s passing. 

“Leo was an incredible kid. People who didn’t get a chance to know him have seen his spirit through the website and want to meet him. I think he’d be so proud of this, as a five-year-old to see his name in lights — it’s just going to be amazing,” Caitlin says. 

“After coming out of something so awful, it’s proven to be a very positive experience. It’s been great to have our family and community help us with this, and especially Bellstrike.”

Learn more about the Leo Israel Memorial Fund at http://leoisraelmemorialfund.bellstrike.com