In 2004, John and Magi Bish collaborated with Anna Maria College to create the Molly Bish Center for the Protection of Children and the Elderly in memory of their daughter, Molly Ann Bish. Molly, a 16-year-old Warren resident, was abducted from her lifeguard post in 2000. The agonizing search for Molly came to an end in 2003 when her remains were found in Palmer, MA, only five miles from her home and from where she was abducted.

As a lifeguard, Molly took responsibility for the safety and protection of others. In her honor, the Center was established to promote the safety and protection of two of the most vulnerable groups in our society: children and the elderly. 

In Molly’s memory, the Center was established with a mission to strengthen prevention, increase awareness, and expand participation, at all levels of the community, and to enhance response capacity to meet a broad range of needs for children and the elderly. It is only through education and awareness that these issues can be addressed and we begin to reduce the number and extent of these types of cases. The mission of the Center is to provide a place where practitioners and family needs converge, by providing training in best practices and resources in a victim-family focused center.

Since its inception, the Center has directly impacted nearly 15,000 Massachusetts residents and hundreds of organizations and agencies through training events and symposia, community-based child identification programs, and school-based safety and prevention initiatives.