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JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (KCNC) — It’s a message we don’t often hear from a child, but it’s one 8-year-old Rêve Lefebvre really wants people to hear. And it’s a pretty serious message: the dangers of drinking and driving.
“I’d like to talk to you about drinking and driving,” Rêve says in a video. “Over 29 people a day die from drunk driving. You do the math; that’s too many.”
A drunk driver killed Rêve’s grandmother earlier this year on Highway 93 near Golden Gate Canyon Road. Margaret ‘Peggy’ Braun was 73, and brought so much joy to her family.
“She loved to do arts and crafts with us,” Rêve told CBS4’s Kelly Werthmann. “I also hugged her a lot.”
Rêve said she has many feelings about losing her grandma, including immense grief.
“And lots of love that I can’t give to her anymore,” the little girl said. “It’s like… trapped inside my body now.”
Not long after her grandma passed away, Rêve said she was at school and felt sad.
“I was just sitting there thinking about her and I pulled myself together, got a piece of paper and a pencil, and started writing what I felt from my heart,” she said.
“Why did you have to leave me crying? Why did you have to leave me alone? I miss you,” she sings.
With the help of a family friend, Rêve put her beautiful song to video. As the little girl sings, there are pictures of her late grandmother and family, showing what was taken and its heartbreaking impact.
Rêve shared her song and message about drunk driving in a Jefferson County courtroom on Tuesday, where the driver responsible for her grandmother’s death was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
“I want drunk drivers to hear it when they’re not drunk,” Rêve told CBS4 of her song, “and maybe even think before they get in the car and drink.”
Rêve said adults remind others about the dangers of drinking and driving all the time, but people still don’t seem to listen. She hopes the words and song written by a child will change that.
“I want to change the world,” Rêve said. “Drinking and driving kills grandmas and I don’t want other kids to lose their grandma, dad or mom.”
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