Kendall Rae
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
And so in an effort to help keep her memory alive, her friends and family have gone on to do some really wonderful things in her honor.
For starters, her brothers actually had the great idea to have these huge pink crosses put up.
One of them is at the site of her abduction and the other is at the cemetery.
And people also put pink bulbs on their porch lights so that her family would know that her memory and her light are still shining.
And her mom said that it brings her a lot of comfort when she drives around and sees all these lights and that she is always going to keep hers on.
Another way that they've chosen to honor her is by renaming the overpass the Sydney Sutherland Memorial Overpass.
And they have even created the Sydney Clare Sutherland Foundation, which has already done a lot of amazing work.
In August of 2022, they surprised teachers in the Jackson County School District with gift cards to help them pay for their classroom needs.
Because oftentimes, as most of you probably know, teachers do end up paying for necessities out of their own pocket.
They also created a scholarship fund that was awarded to future students pursuing an education in the medical field at ASU Newport.
And to pay for those generous gifts, they raised money in a few ways.
Starting in 2021, they created the Miss Sassy Pageant, which honored Sydney's love of pageantry.
They also hold annual Finish Sydney's Run fundraisers.
And every year, dozens of people in pink can be seen finishing the run that she never got the chance to complete.
And I've always found efforts like this to be incredibly touching.
I just think back to Eliza Fletcher's case, and they have something similar.
If you don't remember, or maybe haven't seen my episode on that case, Eliza was murdered in September of 2022, so about two years after Sydney.
And Maggie actually said that when she heard about what happened to Eliza, she felt like she was reliving what happened to her daughter.
The circumstances in their cases are eerily similar.
And unfortunately, they're not the only ones.