The bullying began in fourth grade, and grew in the coming years to include verbal, social and cyber bullying. Hailey tried to handle it on her own by keeping everything bottled up inside, but that didn’t work. She tried to stand up for herself, but the voice inside herself told her she wasn’t good enough and that no matter what she did or said that she would still be wrong. Her parents tried to help, and she even told her teachers and the Principal.  That only led to more aggressive bullying at school and online through social media, texting apps, Snapchat, and Instagram. 
 
Finally, Hailey’s parents learned of notMYkid (pronounced: Not My Kid), a national non-profit organization based in Scottsdale that is focused on empowering and educating youth, families and communities with knowledge and courage to identify and prevent negative youth behavior.  Hailey admits she was scared as she walked into the office with her parents the first time, but by the time she left Hailey says that she finally felt like someone understood her.
 
notMYkid provided Hailey and her family resources that helped to empower them in getting help. Hailey recalls, “With the help of not-MY-kid, I came through the situation a stronger, and more confident person. Now I can help other kids who maybe going through the same thing I did. I absolutely love working with not-MY-kid.”
 
Hailey’s positive experience led her to choose notMYkid to be the focus of her Bat Mitzvah project—which is an expectation of each Bar or Bat Mitzvah age child to donate their time and effort towards benefiting others and making the world a better place.  By raising money and awareness for notMYkid, she hoped to help other kids going through the same situation.
 
notMYkid will be honoring Hailey as the 1st recipient of the Inspiring Young Philanthropists Award during its 2015 Gala: Back to the Boardwalk, which will be held on Friday, April 17 at 6:30pm.
 
The Gala, which will also celebrate notMYkid’s 15th Anniversary, will be held at the Yard in Tempe located at 149 South Farmer.  Attendees are encouraged to come dressed in their retro carnival best.  Event sponsors include First Check, Fox Restaurant Concepts, Crescent Crown Distributing, Oracle Ford, Fry’s Food Stores, Pfizer, Sundance Journey Healing Centers, Spellbinders, Schwartz Insurance, Henkel, Dorrance Family Foundation, Alliance Bank of Arizona and Snapbooth Entertainment.

Tickets starts at $250 with $175 being tax deductible. Please visit www.notmykid.org/gala to RSVP, donate or become a sponsor.   Funds raised help support notMYkid’s mission to inspire positive life choices in youth/teens.