Please allow us to take you back to before 2008 and beginning of the Billy Mock Foundation.
Billy, who was a vibrant 13 year old boy, was fighting brain cancer. He had always been a special gift from God. Born with limited use of his right side, he had to work harder to walk, run, tie his shoes and do all the things that you and I take for granted. He always kept a positive attitude and always had this presence about him that drew people to love him. With an ever-present smile and endless enthusiasm, he put his whole heart into everything he did. Over the course of those first 13 years, he became quite an accomplished young student and athlete participating in soccer, track, cross country, football, basketball, golf, horseback riding and even target archery.
His compassion for people, love for life and passion for sports shaped his personality into the Billy we knew and loved. Even when he became ill, his perspective, favorite saying and approach to life were “it’s all good”. Despite where he was in the continuum of the disease, his personal glass was always half-full.
While Billy was battling cancer, a small group of very special people held a 5k run to raise money for the Mock family. There were over 1,000 people in attendance to help our family and show their love for Billy. At the time, Billy’s father was unemployed and Billy was in the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia fighting for his life.
After a 22 month battle, Billy lost his fight with cancer. The Mocks took the remaining funds and started the Billy Mock Foundation with a mission to simply help others the way that they had been helped. The Billy Mock Foundation was officially established on February 27th 2008, on what would have been Billy’s 14th birthday. The Billy Mock Foundation has 3 specific programs:
1) Provide financial assistance to families in need experiencing personal crisis or hardship
2) Provide educational grants to school age children attending private school
3) Provide grants to local youth groups seeking to help others by “paying it forward”
Through these programs, the foundation has reached thousands of individuals and their families in the Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey metropolitan areas. We’ve had the honor and privilege of assisting families with housing expenses, food bills, medical expenses and other miscellaneous cost of living expenses. We’ve been honored to provide educational scholarships to children whose parents are making the sacrifice to send their children to private schools and, without this financial assistance, might be forced into settling for suboptimal schooling. We’ve partnered with youth groups in the area to support their community outreach goals and groups like “The Joy of Socks” and “Operation Warm”, just to name a few.
Fast forward to today, the BMF remains an all-volunteer organization with many of the same people who organized that first fund raiser on the Board of Directors. We’ve raised nearly $400k to help people who find themselves in a situation similar to where the Mocks were in 2007. As of 2015, we have awarded 59 educational grants (both needs-based and as recognition for community support), provided nearly $100,000 in direct financial support to 105 families-in-need (many suffering from the impacts of life-limiting childhood injuries), and provided nearly $100,000 in grants to support pay it forward programs designed to encourage teens to be active in their community.
As an all-volunteer organization. There are no salaries and our administrative costs are minimal. Our volunteers are gifted and work tirelessly to assist the foundation in its efforts. We are dedicated to our brothers and sisters who may be struggling and will continue to work to “simply help others”. The foundation is sustained by its fundraising efforts. Each year we hold a 5K run /1 Mile walk in the spring and a golf outing in the fall. We are proud to be supported by local businesses and families in our area.
Thank you for supporting the Billy Mock Foundation. We look forward to many more years of helping others in our community. God Bless! President: William Mock Vice President: Peter Mariani Treasure: Jodi Park Secretary: Eileen Latini
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