A coming-of-age story: A 13-year-old decides to help people with kidney disease for his bar mitzvah project

On June 1, Peyton Halpern was surrounded by family and friends while he participated in an important rite of passage: his bar mitzvah.

In accordance with Jewish tradition, the bar/bat mitzvah marks when a child becomes an adult, accountable for their own actions. To demonstrate this new level of responsibility, many synagogues now encourage or require students to do a social action project called a "mitzvah project." For his bar mitzvah project, Peyton chose to raise money for people living with kidney disease, joining KidneyNation to start his own AKF fundraiser.

"[AKF] holds a special place in my heart because my mom has been working closely with people affected by kidney disease for the past 15 years and after I saw how it helped kidney patients, I knew it was the right choice for my bar mitzvah project," said Peyton.

Peyton's mom, Emily, has been a renal dietitian since 2008, helping people with kidney disease manage their kidney-friendly food and fluid requirements. "During my dietetic internship, my last rotation was at a dialysis unit, and I immediately knew that was my area of interest," said Emily. After her graduation in 2008, she worked for DaVita Kidney Care before moving to Emory Dialysis in 2010, where she has been working ever since. "Although I have decreased the number of hours I work each week, my passion for this patient population has never wavered. I am still as fulfilled by this important work as ever." 

That passion spread to her son. "Kidney disease has opened my eyes to the impact a chronic disease can have on an individual and their family members," said Peyton. "Often, during our dinner discussions, my mom would speak about her patients and the hardships they face. Things that my family takes for granted [like] cars, food, housing and medicine… These discussions my family had really impacted me to choose AKF for my bar mitzvah project."

"I was so incredibly proud and touched and I realized our dinner discussions have an impact on our children!" Emily said. "They are listening whether you think they are or not!"

After setting up his fundraising page, Peyton and Emily shared the site via email to all their family and friends. "I also shared the fundraising page with the staff I work with at my dialysis unit Emory Dialysis at Greenbriar," said Emily. She was grateful when the Medical Director of all the Emory Dialysis Units and two social workers she works with donated.

The family was delighted when Peyton surpassed his fundraising goal, raising $1,295. Through his fundraising efforts, Peyton successfully helped people living with kidney disease, as 97 cents of every dollar donated to AKF is spent directly on patients and programs. 

As for the bar mitzvah celebration?

"The bar mitzvah was spectacular," said Emily of the sports-themed bash. "All the people we love and care about were there to celebrate Peyton's accomplishment. We are so proud of him. My husband Neil and daughter Avery are also rockstars and helped to support Peyton throughout the process. It took a year to prepare for his bar mitzvah and he did an outstanding job, and we could not be happier with how it turned out."

Interested in helping people with kidney disease? Visit KidneyNation.org to find out how to start your own fundraiser for AKF.