Lingzi Lu was a dreamer. She had so many goals and aspirations, but it was all cut short a decade ago. In those 10 years since the marathon bombings her family and friends have kept that dream alive.
“She was beautiful,” said Lu's aunt Helen Zhao. “She had a beautiful and kind soul. Her humanity and her perseverance and her journey to pursue her dream. It’s just somebody who had so much ahead of them and cut short and such a tragic way.”
Lu was a Boston University graduate student and was watching the Boston Marathon at the finish line on April 15, 2013. In the decade since her passing, Lingzi’s family and friends have done so much to keep her dream alive. The Lingzi Foundation was started by her family and it honors he example she set by spreading love and compassion.
“At the beginning we didn’t have expectations," said Zhao.
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And now they couldn’t be more proud of how far it’s come. The foundation has helped groups like the Rhode Island nonprofit, Edesia.
“We couldn’t be happier to be associated with them,” said Amanda Wallack, the director of development for Edesia.
Lu’s love of family and food made this a perfect match. The organization makes specialized foods and ships them to children around the world who are suffering from malnutrition.
“We say at Edesia, that every $50 saves a life and to date the Lingzi Foundation has donated just about $35,000 so they’ve saved a lot of lives,” said Wallack.
Helen Zhao said that’s something they are very proud of and something Lu would be too.
“I think she would be looking down to us proud of her mom and dad and all the people involved in the foundation,” said Zhao. “Yea, I think she would be very proud of us.”
And they continue to make her proud. Each year in the fall, the Lingzi Foundation holds its Dream Dash 5K where Lu’s family and friends all come together. There’s also a marathon team. This year there are 12 runners, the second largest group they’ve ever had.
“It was just humbling to know there are still people out there who want to be on the team who felt for our loss and want to keep her memory alive,” said Zhao.
If you’d like more information on the Lingzi Foundation you can click on the link here.
