Jo CiavagliaBucks County Courier Times
The girl inspecting each row of toy cars on the display stand really really wanted a black Batmobile.
MichaelBabco*ck was sure there had to be one among the hundreds of donatedMatchbox and Hot Wheels. So he started digging through the plastic bins he brought until he found it.
The look of pure elation on her face made the hunt worth it, he said.
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These days few things make Babco*ck happier than watching kids, and, yes, adults, searching for the perfect toy car among more than 2,000 his family has received.
Those are the moments when he can forget, for a while, that his youngest son, Dax, will never get the chance to play with them, too.
Dax Theodore Babco*ck was a living Disney character. The kid knew how to make an entrance. The boy loved challenging his older brother Colton, 6, to dinosaur roaring contests and playing with anything with four wheels and an engine, his parents said.
The boys were playing with their mother Karen in their backyard on a Saturday afternoon in early May when a powerful wind gust ahead of a thunderstorm pushed loose a 30-foot section of a tree.
The broken limb struck Dax, killing him a five weeks shy of his third birthday.
Dax didn’t have the chance to make his mark on the world, but his parents are determined to see that his short life creates a legacy that outlives them.
With the more than $55,000 donated through a GoFundMe campaign, the Babco*cks created a nonprofit foundation that bears his name, and his parents’ promise, The Dax Pact.
Its mission is simple, his parents said: Be Like Daxy — Love hard. Live big. Alwaysdo good. Spread joy and smiles in your neighborhood.
“At the very beginning of this I told Karen there are two monsters in this: The bad monster and the good monster,” Michael Babco*ck said. “The bad monster is really big right now and we have to do everything we can to feed the good monster so we can have that monster crush the bad monster.”
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In May, the family took its first steps on a journey of healing through spreading intense joy and happiness when they and their neighbors turned the annual block party into "Dax's Day" to mark his birthday.
They played his favorite sport, soccer.The fire department brought a ladder truck. They rented inflatable castles and a moon bounce and party tents.Everyone shared their favorite Dax stories.
“That was our very first core big party saying, ‘We’re not going to forget. This boy is gonna be here forever,’” Babco*ck said.
In the months since that first event, the family has committed itself to activities designed to not only honor the life of one child, but benefit the community that embraced his family.
The Babco*cks have bought new playground equipment for the daycare center their sons attended.They held a popup event at Rita's Water Ice in Richboro.They plan to attend trunk-or-treats and fall festivals.
In September, 200 people attended the Commemorative Community Net — a combination fundraiser-community appreciation day — that featured a moon bounce, live music, ice cream truck, balloon animals, toy car giveaways, all the things Dax loved, he family said.
The family is planning its first annual memorial car show for next year, a commemorative "Dax Pact" Pennsylvania license plate and coordinating a scholarship.
“We want to bring a little pop-up joy to each little area we go to,” Babco*ck said.
So far, the foundation has given away more than 600 Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. Babco*ck has ordered soft-sided carrying cases with a fold out racetrack called a “DaxBox” that will be donated to schools and daycare centers.
After he reached out to Mattel corporate executives about the foundation, the company donated 750 toy cars and agreed to let the foundation purchase them at deeply discounted prices, Babco*ck said.
The couple is reaching out to local businesses interested in hosting a “Dax Pact” display case, where customers are encouraged to take a toy car, silicone bracelet or stickers promoting the foundation. The first stand is located in a Feasterville pretzel business near the family’s home.
Seeing Dax’s name out in the community, that he is remembered, has helped the family navigate their deep grief living.
“If I can be at the supermarket down the road and I see somebody that has a ‘Dax Pact’ bracelet on, they don’t know who I am, but I don’t need them to,” Karen Babco*ck said. It will warm my heart. It will make me happy.”
