Hailey's Haven
Hailey’s Haven is more than just a bag. Each book bag is picked out by Hailey and other teens and includes the essentials they feel are needed to support the mind, body and spirit of another teen during the difficult transition from their home into a foster home. Each bag contains items that you can find any teen using throughout the day. All the book bags and enclosed items are in style and do not have any organizations name on them, so they can be reused. Each bag also has a handwritten inspirational note from Hailey.
Returns for Good: Returns Give Back
To help girls in need and minimize waste, we inspect and donate our gently worn returns to Hailey's Haven to support Hailey's Haven in helping foster teens during the difficult transition from their home into a foster home.
About Hailey
Hailey O’Donnell is a 15 year old sophomore at Rumson Fair Haven Regional High School in Rumson, NJ. She lives with her mom, dad, almost three year old brother (TJ) and their dogs (Bingo and Mr. Magoo). She loves to spend time with her family and friends, learn about new things, travel both domestically and internationally, and play competitive ice hockey. From a very young age she has always had a passion for giving back to those in need. She tries to lead by example and strongly believes in the power of kindness and empathy.
When she completed her needs assessment at The Division of Child Protection & Permanency (NJ-DCP&P) she quickly realized teens did not have the simply necessities required to transition into their new living situation. They are often overlooked within the system. When they are removed from their homes, the teens often leave without their personal belongings because they spend the limited time they have assisting their younger siblings. They put their siblings needs before their own and try to pack what they can for them. If the teens have any additional time to grab anything of their own it will be thrown into an ugly plastic garbage bag which they would not want to reuse. Hailey began to think about what she could do to help empower them.
From this came Hailey’s Haven. A unique non-profit (registered 501(c)(3) ) program comprised of teens helping teens.