Providing free coffee and donuts, writing thank you notes to veterans and donating books were just a few things students at Clovis Community College did to honor Molly Griffin during Live Like Molly Week.
Griffin, a former student at the college, was killed in a drunk-driving accident in 2015. Before that tragic event, 23-year-old Griffin had graduated with her Bachelor’s in nursing from Fresno State and was living out her dream, working as a registered nurse at Madera Community Hospital.
A Generous and Caring Person
Such an occupation was a perfect fit for Griffin, who many describe as being very generous and caring.
“Molly was an incredible person,” said Griffin’s mother, Doris Griffin. “She was very good at her school work, she had great goals in life, she was kind, she was compassionate, she was really smart and very fun loving.”
To help others live like Griffin, Doris Griffin and her husband, Doug Griffin, started the Molly Taylor Griffin Nursing Honors Scholarship at Fresno State. The scholarship is geared towards helping nursing students pay for school.
Live Like Molly
Clovis Community College started Live Like Molly Week to remind students not to drink and drive and to encourage them to practice random acts of kindness. The weeklong event started on Griffin’s birthday, August 26, and featured a variety of different events.
Many students also turned to social media using the hashtag #LiveLikeMolly to post what they have done to honor Griffin.
Doris Griffin said her daughter would have been blown away by the event and the amount of support it has generated.
“I don’t think she would have ever expected something like that, but she would have really appreciated it,” her mother said.
Sophomore Elijah Banda, along with several members of the college’s Associated Student Government (ASG), decided to honor Griffin by providing their classmates with a free breakfast.
“As someone is walking to class, we spread out our kindness by giving them a donut and coffee,” said Banda, the ASG president. “It is just the little things that can make someone’s day a better day.”
Expanding Beyond Fresno
The fact that Live Like Molly Week is starting to expand beyond Fresno is an amazing thing, said sophomore Alexis Bissell.
Bissell, who is from New York, told her friends there about Live Like Molly Week when she visited last year.
“Then they told their friends about it and now there is a school in New York that does Molly Week,” Bissell said. “They have no idea who she is, but she is just all over the place because she was that good of a person.”
Don’t Drink and Drive
Doris Griffin said she hopes Live Like Molly Week will also cause others to think twice about drinking and driving.
“If one less person drinks and drives because of the message that is trying to be spread then something really good came out of something really awful,” Griffin said.