When an Eau Claire mother lost her 23 year old to complications from leukemia, she wanted to keep her daughter's spirit alive. She found the perfect fit to fulfill her daughter's wish.

"This is one of her favorite places to be at the lake. Even as a college student they were hunting turtles," Patty Lee shows us pictures of her daughter Katie.

Katie Brophy Lee was still a UW-Stout student when she was diagnosed with leukemia. She was a studio arts major and vice president of the GreenSense environmental organization.

"She was concerned about our environment and wanted to do things to make it a better place," Patty tells us.

She says it was on a family trip to Ireland that her youngest daughter fell in love with the idea of re-usable shopping bags.

"She was thrilled that Ireland charged you for grocery bags," Patty says.

Katie died just nine months after that trip in August of 2007. That Christmas her family decided to fill Katie's stocking with good deeds they planned to do in her name. Patty remembered the bags.

"I think every parent's fear is that they're going to lose a child. And when it happens, you have to try to find something positive to keep you going. You don't want her life to be for nothing. I just wanted to continue what she would've started," Patty says with tears in her eyes.

Since that Christmas, Patty has given out 2500 Beezie Bags. Beezie was Katie's nickname since she was a little girl. The picture of an oak tree with its roots surrounding an acorn is one of the Katie's own sketches.

"The oak tree signifies strength. The acorn means growth and new life," Patty says. "Next to it she had written (a saying) which means 'While I breathe, I hope.' That's what struck me the most."

Patty says she'll see her daughter's Beezie Bags here and there around town and she knows that while people carry their groceries, she's forever carrying out her daughter's dream of a cleaner world. It's her way of carrying on.

"She would be happy with the bags. You have to make something positive out of a negative life event. This was my way of coping."

Patty says the Beezie Bags are free to anyone who would like one. She has them made with donations from people who want to pay it forward. It costs between $2.50 and $4.50 to print them.

For more information, you can call Patty at 834-9757 or e-mail beeziebags@yahoo.com.