A tattoo on the inside, just above her palm, reads "Smile JB."

Hosford, a slim, 21-year-old from Durham, transferred to UNC from Wake Forest her sophomore year. She'd take her homework to Caribou Coffee, where she met Bailey.

Friendly, with an easy smile, he became a good friend. They'd watch "Anchorman" and other Will Ferrell movies in her dorm room and listen to Rascal Flatts.

"I had a lot of difficulty that year," she said. "When I was sad, he would write me notes and say smile."

Hosford was one of about 100 people Sunday at the first annual "Walk with Purpose," a fundraiser for a program at the Mental Health Association in Orange County that will help young adults who have mental illnesses. Bailey had bipolar disorder.

The walk raised $4,700 for Josh's Hope, a fund Bailey's parents Steve and Julie created to help people 18 to 24 with mental illness and/or substance-abuse problems with housing, jobs skills and other needs.

Experts say serious mental illness often surfaces in late adolescence, just as young people are beginning to head out on their own.

"I have parents come up to me and say, 'My child graduates in a year and a half. He's not going to college. Got any ideas?' " said walk organizer Lynn Giddens, Bailey's godmother and a board member of the Mental Health Association, where Julie Bailey works as a family advocate.

The association is exploring housing models such as a possible Habitat for Humanity house and a Durham transitional home for 18- to 21-year-olds aging out of foster care, director Mark Sullivan said Monday. The fund had $13,000 before Sunday's walk and would need $35,000 to partner on a Habitat house, he said.

Bailey, 20, was found dead in July near Jordan Lake. His body had been moved from a site in Orange County where he had been shot in the back of the head, an autopsy determined. Six young men are charged with murder and kidnapping in his death.

Bailey had bipolar disorder and learning disabilities and had been living with friends at the time of his death, Giddens said.

"Josh wanted to be successful," she said. "His hope was he would be able to find help, get an apartment, a good safe system where he could explore his dreams and make that happen. He was just beginning to do that."

On Sunday John Holt, 20, wore a blue T-shirt that said "In loving memory Joshua McCabe Bailey." He'd gone to McDougle Elementary and played basketball with Bailey growing up.

Bailey was supposed to come to a cookout about two months before he was killed. "I hadn't seen him for years, but it didn't work out," Holt said. "I wish I could have seen him more recently than I did."

Holt wore the T-shirt to a hearing for one of the people charged with the murder.

"I wore this shirt there with pride," he said. "I think it meant a lot to his parents."

"We're not gonna forget who he is."

mark.schultz@nando.com or 932-2003

ONLINE

See a video of Josh Bailey and read a statement from his parents at www.justiceforjosh.org/