Rita Morado is continuing a legacy her mother worked a lifetime to build.

It's a legacy of giving back to her community to make it a better place for others.

This is what the late Chicana activist Lorraine Lee did before she died at age 51 on Oct. 31, 2007, after battling throat cancer for more than a decade.

Lee was the executive vice president of Chicanos por la Causa, a non-profit agency that operates a youth center, charter schools and programs in housing, business loans and social services.

Now Morado, 16, a sophomore at Tucson High Magnet School, and sister Anisa Morado, 14, an eighth-grader at St. Ambrose Catholic School, are spreading the news about the Second Annual Lorraine Lee Youth Walk.

Their friends and relatives are helping to collect pledges for the April 25 walk at Pima Community College's West Campus. The event is a fundraiser for Chicanos por la Causa's youth services and educational programs, Rita said.

Teens from nearly a dozen high schools, including Tucson, Pueblo, Sunnyside, Rincon/University, Cienega, Salpointe and San Miguel, are working to register youths in the event. So are students at Chicanos por la Causa's charter schools — Calli Ollin and Toltecalli academies, and Hiaki High School.

"For my mom, education was the most important thing, and to continue working in something she believed in is really precious to us and our entire family. This includes her co-workers at Chicanos por la Causa," Rita Morado said. "What my mom believed in will not die. Her work is continuing through us," she said.

Rita Morado said youths built a Web page, Arizona Girls for a Cause, at www.azgirlsforacause. com to promote the walk, and students are distributing information at their schools.

"We had about 150 walkers last year and we raised $6,000," Rita Morado said. "We are hoping for more people this year. People can walk the track or the cross-country course," she said.

The walk will begin after an Aztec blessing is performed by Jesus "Chucho" Ruiz, a curriculum and cultural-development specialist for Chicanos por la Causa Youth Center.

Participants will be invited to stand in a circle, and Ruiz will give a blessing in each direction of the four winds and pray over the walkers, organizers said.

After the walk, participants will gather at the ramadas near the college's running track for refreshments, to catch up on their lives and to reminisce about Lee.

Alonso Morado said he is proud of his daughters and their friends who are carrying on in the tradition of his late wife, who believed in higher education and working with young people.

Lee was honored for her work by local, state and national organizations, including the National Council of La Raza, a Latino civil-rights and advocacy group.

Now to see Tucson youths who were inspired by Lee doing community service is deeply moving, Alonso Morado said.

"They are running the show for this fundraising walk," he said. "They are the artists drawing the publicity posters, manning the telephones and texting messages to their friends about the walk. They even have the word out on MySpace."

WALKATHON

What: Second Annual Lorraine Lee Youth Walk to raise funds for Chicanos por la Causa's youth services and educational programs

Where: Pima Community College West Campus, 2202 W. Anklam Road

When: Saturday, April 25 from 8 a.m. to noon