How A Crestwood Mother Turned Her Loss Into A Way To Empower Kids

OAK FOREST, IL — The Midlothian police posted a good-news message on its Facebook page Monday about an officer and his wife who gave a St. Christopher's eighth grader a scholarship to continue his Catholic education. But the good news behind the story is bigger and deeper those 245 words could capture. It started, in a way, with a little star.

Tymothy Flournoy, an eighth grader St. Christopher School in Midlothian, Lilly Campos, an eighth grader at St. Alexander School in Palos Heights, and Brett Jones, a player on the St. Jude Knight's House League Hockey Team, each won a $1,000 scholarship this year from the Erik Bohne-Pace Memorial Foundation.

The nonprofit was formed by John Pace, a Midlothian police officer and his wife, Christy Pace, who is a retired officer, to give good kids a way to stay on the right path. They do it in honor of their son, Erik.

Erik died in 2000 when he was 13. He died in his sleep. It wasn't until after an autopsy that his parents discovered that he'd had a brain tumor. He never had symptoms. There was no indication something was wrong.

Erik was a good kid, Christy Pace explained. He was the "big brother" to everybody, not just his two younger sisters. He was the kid, who when he listened to a telethon, pledged money to St. Jude Children's Research Center. He was 7. Erik was also the kid who intervened when someone else was being bullied, like the young man at school who saw a group of boys walking down the hall toward him and knew he was in trouble. "Knock it off," Erik said to the boys. "I like this kid, He's cool." And they never bothered the boy again.

It was stories like these she heard during visitation for her son, stories that moved his hockey team to do something that would change everything for Pace.

The team all came to the viewing together wearing buttons they designed: two hockey sticks with a puck in the middle over the number 27, Erik's number.

"Everybody wanted one," she said.

The coaches wanted to sell the little stars to create a scholarship fund. The school, separately, also wanted to form a scholarship in Erik's name. And, over time, these ideas melded and the Erik Bohne-Pace Memorial Foundation was born.

Pace poured her heart and soul into it. "It was my way of making good come out of this horrible tragedy in mine and my family's life," she said.

The Crestwood-based foundation first focused on fundraising for scholarships and for St. Jude. During its first nine years, the foundation donated $180,000 to St. Jude and awarded $95,000 to students at St. Christopher, St. Alexander and the St. Jude hockey team.

But by 2009, the recession was in full steam and the foundation took a break. During the next two years, the board decided to shift its focus to think bigger and work on something that affected more kids. They chose bullying. And it made sense. During Pace's 23-year law-enforcment career, she worked as a prevention officer and a DARE officer and had a deep background in working with the community, with safety issues and with bullying.

"We had a desire to do something on larger scale, something to help kids empower themselves so they don't allow themselves to become victims of bullying, and to help kids who are or would become bullies so that they understand what a true feeling of empowerment feels like so they don't replace that with the false power bullying gives them," she said.

In 2011, the foundation launched the CORE Matters Project. It's a research-backed curriculum taught in teams of police officers and teachers that aligns with state standards to teach kids social emotional learning, empathy and respect. It's a 13-week program typically taught in gym classes because it incorporates physical activities. Schools in Illinois and Indiana have adopted the program, and it will be introduced in a Wisconsin school next year.

"Our passion is kids and equipping them with the tools so they can handle what comes before them," Pace said.

The scholarships are available to students at St. Christopher and St. Alexander and who play on the St. Jude hockey team — schools Erik attended and the team he played for. Faculty, coaches or adults other than parents nominate students who act with respect and integrity, "even when no one's looking," Pace said.

In the meantime, the foundation will continue to expand its work to reach as many kids as it can. Kids like Tymothy, Lilly and Brett. Kids like Erik.

"As long as I am alive, there will be scholarships," Pace said.