There’s been a lot of mocking of “thoughts and prayers” as a response to tragedies in the news.

I agree, the words seem hollow to those who want action instead, but sometimes they’re exactly what a grieving family needs. That’s the case after the death of 8-year-old Payton Lee Mosher earlier this month.

“It would be great for people to know how much we appreciate their thoughts and their prayers, and keeping us in their thoughts,” Payton’s grandmother Melanie Davis told me this week.

Payton was struck by a car that was backing out of a driveway into Birch Street in Porterdale on the afternoon of Feb. 27.

The Georgia State Patrol said a 39-year-old Monroe man was driving a 2015 Dodge Ram while Payton ran east from a driveway to the street.

The driver did not see Payton. He was injured and had to be flown to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston.

Payton died March 7, three days after his eighth birthday.

Davis remembered her grandson as “our little comedian” who also had a bent toward helping his family.

“He loved just to make people smile and laugh,” she said. “Any chore that you had around the house, he was in it with both feet.”

Payton was a first-grader at Middle Ridge Elementary School. His hobbies included football, riding four-wheelers and anything outdoors. He also enjoyed trips to Six Flags Over Georgia with his family.

“It’s hard to describe Payton because he was all-around a sweet kid.”

He is survived by his parents, Heather and Richard Mosher Sr.; brothers, Richard Daniel Mosher Jr. and Gabriel Suveair Davis; grandmothers, Melanie Davis and Vicky Walker; great-grandmothers, Betty Hanson and Beverly Walker; plus aunts, uncles and several cousins.

And while it’s certainly a tragic event, there has been good to come from it. Melanie Davis said she’s seen that through the outpouring of support from businesses like Firehouse Subs, Sister’s Family Restaurant and Cupid Slave Tattoo Co., and by individuals through donations to a GoFundMe page.

Also, Payton was an organ donor.

“It’s nice to see everyone come together. I just hate it had to be in tragedy,” Davis said. “I wish it would have been something better, but we’re all so thankful.”

Davis said Payton’s school also was supportive, with student artwork filling the hospital room at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston.

“It’s just made us feel better to know that the community can come together for Payton. It’s amazing.

“One of this teachers was talking about how kind he was. She put that everyone should be “Payton kind.’ I thought that was sweet.”

For information about organ donation, visit https://www.donatelifegeorgia.org.

The family of Payton Mosher thanked the following individuals and businesses for their support after his injury and death:

• Jackie Lindsey, Newton County Farm Bureau: GoFundMe (staff and supporters)
  
• Clint, Grant and Lisa, Firehouse Subs of Covington (employees and patrons)
  
• Mrs. Connie, staff and patrons, Sisters Family Restaurants
  
• Brook Murillo, Cupid Slave Tattoo employees and patrons
  
• Staff, parents and students, Middle Ridge School
  
• Payton's first-grade teachers: Meal Train
  
• Wayne Blackwell, Blackwells Grocery employees and patrons
  
• Cielo Blue Mexican Grill & Cantina staff and employees
  
• The Rev. Patrick Harvey, Sister Rhonda Harvey and congregation, Pentecostal Church of McDonough
  
• Pony Express Marathon employees and patrons
  
• Sprint corporate office employees of Atlanta
  
• Tim and Pam Biddy, Curbside Waste
  
• Betty, Bobby and Sheri Hanson, Bob Hanson Heating & Cooling
  
• City of Porterdale and the city's Police Department
  
• Porterdale Mayor Arlene Chapman
  
• Dubay Enterprises