We did it!

I woke up this morning so proud and honoured to be part of a fanbase as kindhearted and generous as Bethany Joy Lenz fans. I came up with the very simple idea of 'saying goodbye to Haley James Scott by giving back' and what started as a small $900 goal to represent 9 seasons/years somehow grew to $3,685 (4 times the goal). I was blown away not just by the end result, but also by all the people who took this as an opportunity to educate themselves on child sex trafficking and use their voice to bring light to this heartbreaking injustice.

I'd like to say a special thank you to Bethany Joy. I may have been the one to gather the troops with this campaign, but she was the one who inspired all of us to be a part of this fight. She generously donated a personalized note for each person who donated $100+, and if you go to the Crowdrise page (http://www.crowdrise.com/goodbyeHJS), you'll see that 99% of donations were of this amount or greater. I am in disbelief that she'd help a fan's little tribute campaign to this degree. I have never met her and she doesn't know who the bleep I am, but her support of Love146 and the respect she has for her fans truly amazes me. Before running this campaign, I simply admired her talent and loved reading her blog posts and now I have grown to respect her and even look up to her in a way I never expected to. Even though we've said goodbye to Haley, I know that Joy will continue to keep us engaged with all of her current and future projects. I am so happy I randomly watched One Tree Hill one lonely day in November a few years ago because it truly brought something so special to my life that I needed these past couple of years. Thank you Bethany Joy for being a great role model and talent in an industry where that doesn't seem matter anymore. You're a rare gem, and I'm pleased to call myself a fan.

I also want to thank all of you. Everyone who donated, tweeted, retweeted, and were supportive of #WeAreAllHuman. I never would have had the confidence to follow through with ANY of this if it hadn't been for the amazing people I have met over the past couple of years. To quote Haley, "you all made me brave".

Finally, I'd like to thank Love146 (and Rob Morris) for being so supportive of this little fan campaign. Their early support in November 2010 was the reason I knew that this would be special.

I'd also like to highlight the amazing work Love146 does to prevent child trafficking in high risk areas by empowering youth and advocates. Please read more about their prevention response efforts here: http://love146.org/prevention.

The work they do in aftercare - particularly with the Round Home - where they nurse and nurture girls who have survived the darkness of sexual slavery but have lost hope and faith in humanity amazes me. The stories of the girls who have healed in this home are so inspiring that it has truly taught me that even in the most difficult situations (perhaps seemingly impossible), we can always find hope and happiness. Read more about their aftercare programs: http://love146.org/aftercare

I'll never stop being part of their mission to end one of the world's greatest tragedies. I hope you'll all continue to fight with me.

I love all of you!

Steph