Classmates of a 10-year-old Fayetteville girl who was killed while sledding last month honored her memory Monday by jumping rope for a cause about which her parents say she was passionate.

Emmi Barbaro died Dec. 27 after she was thrown from a sled that hit a stump during a visit at her maternal grandparents' home in Dassel, Minn., about an hour west of Minneapolis.

Emmi was in fourth grade at Fayetteville Academy and was active in Jump Rope for Heart, an American Heart Association program that raises money to help children with heart problems.

Her school's goal was to raise $1,300 for the cause, but more than $30,000 donations poured in after Emmi's passing.

"She just liked helping people, and she supported anybody and everybody she could," her father, Richard Barbaro said.

Although she was only 10, her parents say she touched the lives of many.

"I can tell you, she never had an ounce of negativity in her soul. She woke up every morning with a smile on her face," Barbaro said. "She was just a firecracker full of energy."