Rio Marie Allred

Rio Marie Allred was a vivacious, beautiful, sarcastic and witty 12 year old girl living in Elkhart, Indiana. Rio loved to create and draw, she was an avid reader (finishing all of the Harry Potter books at a young age). She loved to go camping and kayaking with her family and rocking out with her best friend, Lili. In December of 2020, Rio began experiencing hair loss. It was subtle at first but became more aggressive over time. Rio was eventually diagnosed with Alopecia, an autoimmune disease that causes your body to attack your hair follicles and leads to hair loss. 

She started middle school in the fall of 2021 and began experiencing bullying for her condition. Rio was taunted and called horrific names; children would go as far as to take her wigs & hats off of her head. She was even experiencing physical assaults on a regular basis.

Many meetings were held with Rio’s parents and school officials at various levels of administration to address these incidents, and yet the severe bullying remained unresolved. 

On Monday, March 14, 2022 Rio died by suicide.

Rio is fiercely loved by her family and friends, expanding to include many who never got a chance to meet her. Rio’s Rainbow has been established in her honor to effect change and to ensure that no child ever again finds themselves the victim of tortured bullying and no family is forced to live out the rest of their lives with the loss of the child they love as a result. 

Rio’s Rainbow’s mission is to ensure that all children can attend school without fear; free from the threats of physical, mental and emotional violence. We aim to accomplish this by directing our efforts in the areas of education, legislation and accountability.

You can show your support by following us through the links below or better yet, join us in our efforts to effect change and protect our children so that no family may find themselves in this situation ever again.

Follow Rio’s Rainbow on social media through the links below & subscribe to follow along as we grow – exciting projects are in the works!