YouTube star Jacob Whitesides performs at Flintridge Prep for suicide prevention fundraiser

Hundreds of teenage girls shivered in the rain on Saturday — some since 5 a.m. that day — to have YouTube singing sensation Jacob Whitesides croon to them.

But 14-year-old fan Delila Brown stood dry and busy inside the gates at Flintridge Preparatory School before the concert inside its auditorium. She organized the entire event for a school project, raising $16,284 in ticket sales for Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services’ suicide prevention center.

PHOTOS: Jacob Whitesides performs at Flintridge Prep

Just a few months ago, Brown was also behind the gates waiting for her idol. When she met him at a concert in October, she said she started crying and shaking.

“I was flipping out for about 30 minutes,” Brown, an eighth-grader at Flintridge Prep, said.

Teenage girls seem to cling to 17-year-old Whitesides for comfort. At a meet-and-greet session before the concert, fans wrap their arms around the Internet star with tears streaming down their faces. He wipes the hair from their faces and calls them “baby girl” and “beautiful.”

“He’s the nicest guy I’ve ever met,” said 14-year-old Anna Skillman of La Jolla while waiting in line for her third Whitesides concert. “Plus, he gives the best hugs.”

But Whitesides also gets blades in the mail from fans who say they are giving up cutting because of him. He often hears that he “saved my life” when hugging a sobbing admirer.

And with 1.4 million followers on Twitter, it was in Whitesides’ Internet fan world that Brown witnessed friends struggling with depression and thoughts of suicide.

When her science teacher at the La Cañada private school, Hilary Thomas, told the class they all needed to do something that would make a measurable impact in their community, Brown knew she wanted to help those struggling friends.

Thomas offered up Didi Hirsch as a recipient. Her friend, Brandon Toh, worked the 24-hour crisis line at Didi Hirsch, even writing the manual for the program. Toh grappled firsthand with suicidal thoughts. Three years ago, he took own his life.

A benefit concert featuring Whitesides seemed fitting to Brown, so she reached out to him through her father’s friend in the industry.

“I didn’t really have a backup plan,” she laughed.

The teen star’s mother and manager, Becky Whitesides, said Brown went through the right people at the right time, given that her son was not on tour at that time.

She also saw the concert, which Jacob performed for free, as a chance to provide true support for struggling fans.

“It’s a lot of responsibility on a 17-year-old’s shoulders,” Becky Whitesides said of her son. “It’s scary how many young people are struggling and he just can’t give special attention to everybody. Now, at least we can say, ‘Go here. Call this number.’ “

FYI

The 24-hour Didi Hirsch crisis line is (877) 727-4747

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Natalie Wheeler is a freelance writer.