Larry Griggs says the life lessons learned at a young age make for a stronger adult.
“Who we were is supposed to make us who we are,” he said.
Griggs, executive vice president of Greenwood Utilities, was one of two speakers Saturday for the Greenwood Mentoring Group’s 12th annual Community Prayer Breakfast, the organization’s largest fundraiser.
Dr. John Fair Lucas III, a Greenwood surgeon who has made a computer lab a reality at the Greenwood Mentoring Center, also spoke.
The Greenwood Mentoring Group is an after-school program that runs during the school months and offers enrichment activities throughout the year. It was founded by its director, Bill Clay.
Early Saturday morning, guests arrived and began the fundraiser with breakfast, prayer and a musical performance by Dr. Montrell Greene and his two daughters, Michele and Nala.
Mentees and parents also gave testimonies on the success of the Greenwood Mentoring Group.
Fourth-grade student Kaniyah House said this was her second year to attend the program. “The reason why I like going to the mentoring group is because they help me understand my work better, and they break things down so I can understand them,” she said.
Cassandra Taylor, a parent, spoke on behalf of the others who send their children to the mentoring program.
She said she loved the opportunities her daughter had through the program, and she along with other parents appreciated that their children were getting one-on-one attention in the classroom.
In his speech, Griggs took guests back to when he was a ninth-grader playing defensive back on the football field. There was a senior player who would pretend to catch a ball and then hit Griggs on the back of the head with his elbow.
After it happened a couple times, Griggs said he realized it was intentional. He struck the senior back on his helmet and asked him to stop.
Griggs said the senior player ran up, bumped him with his chest and said, “Come on, whatcha gonna do?”
He acknowledged that the question was grammatically incorrect, but he said he has asked himself this question when dealing with tough situations.
“I have come to believe that these types of incidents are really not about potential fights but a bigger profound life lesson preparing us or children for the real life battles of the future,” he said.
Griggs said sometimes life doesn’t ask this question, but these lessons make children into stronger adults.
He gave several examples of when this question came up — when his parents took him out of school for a semester because he was a little different, when his stepfather beat him and his biological father was not present, when his brother became hooked on drugs shortly before he died from drowning, and finally when he fell through the top floor of a home while fighting a fire when he served as a fireman.
During these profound experiences he said he always turned to God.
While he was at home for a semester, his grandmother taught him about prayer and the importance of religion. He said during that time he earned his PHD — a “praying hard” degree.
Even when he had trouble with his father and stepfather, his grandmother said, “You may be someone who will never have a daddy, but you will never be someone without a Father.”
He said he still thinks back about that chest-bumping incident on the football field.
“At that time I really didn’t understand. I think about the words uttered — ‘Come on, whatcha gonna do?’ — but now I realize all these years later it wasn’t some much about what happened on that hot summer afternoon, but it was about the rest of my life.”
Lucas dedicated his time to honoring and praising Clay.
He said Clay doesn’t do what he does in the community for the money or the publicity: “He does it for the kids.”
He made a slide show of Clay starting with his biography and his accomplishments, which he illustrated through old clips from the Commonwealth, photos and quotes from stories and letters to the editor.
He also discussed Clay’s journey to creating the Greenwood Mentoring Group and its history.
• Contact Lauren Randall at 581-7239 or lrandall@
gwcommonwealth.com.
The original version of this article incorrectly reported the cause of death of Larry Griggs' brother.
