WHAT NOW?
An update on RCF’s progress and goals for 2025.
2024 was a year that brutally redefined the purpose of our lives.
A few months after the cataclysmic event of losing Ryyan, we created the Ryyan Chacra Foundation (RCF) to honor his life by doing good in the world. Through initiatives like “Reach Out for Ryyan” and grants, RCF reflects our commitment to ensure that Ryyan’s life is, and will continue to be, consequential.
To that end, we established RCF as a private 501(c)(3) organization and officially received a Letter of Determination from the IRS on September 12, 2024. Banking was set up on October 8. On November 20, 2024, we registered the Foundation with the State of Colorado, and on December 1, 2024, we officially launched our website, www.ryyanchacrafoundation.org.
As of this writing, the website has had 870 unique visitors, and the Foundation has received donations from more than 40 people and counting. We want to offer a heartfelt thank you to every donor and all who offered to volunteer for RCF. Because of your generous contributions, we are now ready to begin to put our work into action.
One of the Foundation’s forefront initiatives is the upcoming dissemination of “The Sheet” — a guide to be given to parents and caregivers to assist them in providing informed help to a person experiencing suicidal ideation. Ideally, this sheet would be distributed to hospital emergency rooms, doctors’ offices, and schools nationwide.
Because it takes an average of 11 to 17 years to get an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) diagnosis, the Foundation will be working with Graland Country Day School in Denver, a happy chapter in Ryyan’s academic life, to explore mental health awareness initiatives with middle school students. In addition, the Foundation has begun conducting exploratory meetings with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus to develop outreach and educational efforts focused on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
It is through the generous commitment of Ryyan’s friends that much of this work has been realized. Their dedication is a vital force propelling this effort forward.
Whether we measure a life in days, months, years, or decades, the true weight of a person’s absence is the imprint they leave behind. Ryyan deserved to be here much, much longer. But his influence, his good nature, and his creative essence will not be lost.
As we embark on a new year, we work guided by Ryyan’s energy and his light to actualize our mission and to uphold his wish to “lift people up.”
With gratitude,
Elizabeth Metz and Tarek Chacra
