The Good He Would Have Done, The Good He Still Does: The Connor Lynch Legacy Scholarship

Connor had a giving heart. He loved to help people. Of course, he would begrudgingly do his community service hours that were required for school and wouldn’t go out of his way to help his younger brother with things or help me clean up the house when asked, but that’s not what I mean by helping people.

It was the unplanned moments…. like when we went to Target to get him food and essentials for his apartment. It was so, so hot that day and there was a homeless man sitting in the shade in the parking lot. He had two dogs with him that were panting heavily. Connor asked if we could get them so food and water. I remember thinking how kind that was of him to want to help so we bought some plastic bowels, bottles of water, treats and snacks and he proudly walked them over. He even spent some time giving the dogs some love.

There was a time when he was younger and a car accident happened right in front of us. He didn’t waste a minute before running over to see if everyone was okay and how he could help. He even sat on the curb with the woman who was shaken up from the accident telling her it’d be okay. I have countless other examples of how he went out of his way to help others – not because he had to, but because he truly wanted to.

I always wonder what that giving heart would look like today. How many others would he have helped or could have over a lifetime? Who would’ve benefitted from his generosity and kindness?

His Legacy Lives On

After he died, our family established the Connor Lynch Legacy Scholarship at the University of South Florida. It’s designed for entrepreneurial business majors who have a passion for starting their own business – just like he wanted to do. Today was the luncheon where we got to meet the recipient, which is the second person to benefit from the scholarship. Last year’s winner was a young woman who wanted to start her own nail business. I was a little unsure at first, but after meeting her and hearing the innovative and unique things she wanted to do, I walked away super impressed.

Today, we met a young man who wants to start a business that eliminates certain genetic traits that are passed from generation to generation. Things like diabetes and heart disease…even breast cancer and others…by injecting something into the embryo eradicating that part of the DNA. I can’t pretend to articulate (or understand) all that he said, but I sure did walk away thinking “wow”.   

So, while Connor is no longer physically here to help people himself, he is impacting others. He’s doing it through the lives of these young students who will carry forward his legacy in the plans they have, in the lives they are building and in their future successes. Knowing that he played one small part in their story means – at least to me – that he, his generosity and his kindness lives on. ∞