Eighth-Graders Challenged By Billy Mock Foundation
CountyPressOnline – June 17, 2008
Billy Mock, the only son of Gilda and Bill Mock of Chadds Ford, was on schedule to graduate with 60 other eighth-graders this year, until he succumbed to a brain tumor last June 10.At Billy’s graveside that day, in a quiet corner of the St. Thomas the Apostle Church cemetery, his classmates released small butterflies to aid him on his journey home.
On the first anniversary of his death, there was a special Mass in Olde St. Thomas Church with his family, classmates and friends in attendance.
After the special Mass, the 60-member class walked quietly to the cemetery, where they released 60 striped lady butterflies, flown in for the occasion from Orlando, Fla. The striped ladies are a smaller Monarch butterfly and arrived frozen in blue envelopes. The warmth of the hands holding the butterflies wakened them to life and they flew gracefully away.
Following the release of the butterflies, there was a short indoor ceremony, in which Billy’s parents, Gilda and Bill, unveiled The Billy Mock Foundation’s “Pay-It-Forward Plan.”
The foundation was established a few months after Billy passed on and has had two “Billy Mock Runs” to raise funds.
The foundation gave four $500 scholarships at graduation, but the Pay-It-Forward plan affected each student individually.
“The Billy Mock Foundation is an all-volunteer, charitable organization whose mission is ’simply helping others’,” Bill Mock told the eight-graders.
“For us, it’s a small way that we can give back to the community that literally carried us through the most difficult time of our lives.”
Mock went on to explain the new program.
“Tomorrow (June 11), along with your diploma, you’ll receive a letter and a check for $100,” he said. “The money is not a gift in the usual sense; it’s not for you to keep for yourself.”
Mockex-plained that the money with which the students would be entrusted is to be used to make it grow. The students were challenged to use their imagination, pool their resources and make the gift grow, before giving it away to help others.
“One last thing,” Mock said. “Once you’re finished, tell us what you’ve done to help others. We want to know what you’ve done to make your gift grow, who you chose to help and why, and how did ‘helping others’ impact your life.
“You see, the real gift is not the $100 but the lessons you’ll gain from using it to help othersand of course just as Billy would wanta positive perspective on this whole experience.”
Following this emotional challenge from the Foundation, 175 silver and green biodegradable balloons (Billy was an avid Eagles fan), were released into the atmosphere with messages from each student attached.
Billy Mock was a cross country runner, and a member of the school’s soccer, track and softball teams.
Earlier this year, the eighth-grade art students painted a “Nittany Lion,” in memory of Billy, which was entered in the Brandywine Penn State contest to commemorate the local campus’ 40th anniversary. The lion was painted blue for the sky, with white clouds scattered on it and butterflies were attached with acrylic paint. Forty of the best lions were selected to be auctioned off, but the eighth grade parents at St. Thomas worked a deal with the college to buy the lion back and gave it to the school as the class gift.
The Mocks have two other children, Maria, a junior at Ursuline Academy and Victoria, a fourth-grader at St. Thomas.
