Celebration of Life & Mural for Rachel Crafty Sadd

Rachel unexpectedly passed away due to secondary complications from cancer on February 27, 2024, surrounded by her family. She leaves behind an incredible legacy as a powerhouse of creativity, community organizing, and her unwavering belief that making is for everyone.

We have several goals for this Gofundme:

This is a concept for the mural she was working on:

Rachel created community at every level, including her home. For over ten years, she ran a household with several housemates and a beautiful garden. We want to give her household the best chance of continuing that community. The family needs time to sort and move her belongings, while covering her rent and other expenses. She would not want her household burdened financially or otherwise by her passing.

It was a shock to learn that the cost of cremation has tripled since the Before Times. That’s enough to say here. The family will spread her ashes privately near Santa Cruz.

As anyone who knew Rachel knows, she wore many hats and had a ton of projects in the works at all times. When she learned in January that her cancer was in remission, she did what Rachel always did to celebrate important life events: she started a project to uplift the community. Rachel was fiercely proud of being an Oaklander, and was designing a mural of species endemic to the Bay Area to be installed on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland. We want to see that project through to its conclusion in her honor and as a lasting gift to her community.

Rachel was a realist. She fought like hell, and she knew that it might not be enough. She told us that if the worst happened, she wanted us to bring the community together and throw one hell of a party to celebrate her life. Rachel told us many times that she didn’t want a sad funeral, she wanted an old-fashioned wake where people tell stories and laugh and share great food together. To that end, we will be hosting Rachel’s Celebration of Life on Saturday, April 20, 2024, at Ace Makerspace.

We hope that once we’ve covered the costs of Rachel’s passing, celebration, and community art project, there will be sufficient funds to endow a scholarship in her name at Ace Makerspace.

Ace Makerspace wrote a lovely blog post about Rachel and her legacy that can be read here: https://www.acemakerspace.org/celebrating-the-life-of-executive-director-rachel-crafty-sadd/

Facebook event page: https://fb.me/e/2Yk0tFChq

Ace Makerspace RSVP link:

https://www.acemakerspace.org/event/celebration-of-life-for-rachel-crafty-sadd/