Executive Director Celebrates 20th Birthday!

Today, October 26th, 2018, Alexander Kovarovic (Executive Director) turns twenty years old! Since 2017, Kovarovic has changed thousands of lives and has impacted hundreds of families. In only one year, he has raised over 12,000 dollars for families and children in need and has held over 15 events nationwide to raise funds for teenagers in need of assistance due to car accidents, house fires, and child abuse.

Kovarovic has had a pretty rough past as he grew up with depression and anxiety and he grew very scared of normal everyday social situations which led to battling three eating disorders. He also grew up with very little support from anyone in his circle. Unfortunately, Kovarovic eventually couldn’t handle anymore and broke down and was placed in a hospital for a few weeks to get better. That didn't really work well so he began self harming to deal with all of the pain that he was enduring. After many months of battling with depression, anxiety, self harm, and eating disorders, he had finally decided that he couldn't deal with all of this anymore and wanted to change his life around before he did something that took his life.

In late 2016, he created a bunch of social media pages which he used to help teens like himself who were in trouble and needed help. This quickly formed an online “community” and his pages grew to have over 50,000 followers because of how many teens looked up to him for help through their own rough times. After this, Kovarovic found his passion for helping teenagers and young children. He quickly enrolled in training and later received his certificates in being a crisis intervention counselor, dating abuse intervention counselor, and many other things. He worked as a counselor for the Crisis Text Line for several months as well.

After this, he began writing and this is where many people from around the nation began noticing how special Alex truly is. He has written hundreds of blogs for many well known organizations and news agencies to help teens and thousands of people read them weekly and Alex’s ‘fan base’ began rapidly growing. After a few months of blog postings, he published his first book at 18 years old. Kovarovic released the book with the idea that anyone can succeed and that anyone can slowly work towards achieving their dreams, even by themselves. Because of this, he published a very raw, unedited short book. Kovarovic jokingly says that the book does indeed have mistakes and grammar errors, but says that he’d rather publish his own work with some errors and imperfections, rather than have someone else edit it.

His second book will be released in early November of 2018, shortly after his birthday. The book is titled “Change Your Life” and is an advice book for teenagers, college students, and even parents on how to handle a variety of situations that teenagers face on a daily basis.

In late 2017, while Kovarovic was 18, he wanted to help more teenagers nationwide, so he created the National Youth Internet Safety and Cyberbullying Task Force. After a few months of getting paperwork in order, Alex announced that the organization was now a 501c3 nonprofit organization. The organization was officially created in March 2018 and in only eight months, the organization now has 10 offices across the US, has held over 45 fundraising events, and changes the lives of hundreds of teens on a daily basis. People from around the country send in bullying reports, visit our website for help, and contact our helpline for assistance. The organization has grown very popular in communities across the nation.

Kovarovic has won numerous awards for his work including the Youth Service America Award, the National Awesome Award, and the Michigan Everyday Hero Award. He was also recognized as an everyday hero by WGNA Country. He has received a congratulatory letter from numerous state governors as well as nationally recognized celebrities and public officials.

On a personal note, I met Alex through his life changing work. I messaged him back in March, asking for advice because I knew he gave good advice. I was battling through an abusive relationship and didn’t know where to turn to. I self harmed and tried running away to escape the pain. He helped me pick up the broken pieces, he helped me get out of the situation, and he helped to protect me when I was feeling scared. I was terrified of what would happen to me if I had left the relationship I was in, but Alex showed me that I’m strong enough to get through anything. For once in my life, someone had actually made me feel like I was worth it. Alex, I can honestly say to the deepest part of my heart, that you truly saved my life. If you weren’t there for me, I would have done something stupid and who knows what would have happened to me. You’ve given me so much support and you’ve helped so many people, and never ask for anything in return. You’re a true hero and I can’t even begin to tell you the amount of lives you’ve saved that I don’t think you’ll ever realize. Your friends, your organization, your girlfriend, and your family are some of the luckiest people in the world to be part of your everyday life. I am beyond blessed and extremely grateful to have crossed paths with you. Please don’t EVER stop being yourself, it’s why you’re loved by so many. Thank you for hiring me as part of your Executive Management Team and thank you for giving me the opportunity to turn my life around to help others. You will never know just how many are alive still because of you.

Thank you for saving my life.