A nonprofit has been founded to honor the legacy of a 32-year-old woman killed in a hit-and-run in Fairfield last year.

Marileidy Morel Araujo is being remembered for empowering young women.

The nonprofit Social Butterfly Foundation has been started to continue where she left off before she died.

It's been nine months since Morel Araujo was killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking her dog during a visit to family in Fairfield on July 4, 2020.

Her friends Samantha Longo and Tania Bentley called her Mari.

"I'm always going to have her with me, my heart, my memories," Longo says.

"It's still very, very difficult for all of us, especially for her family. And I don't know whether that will ever cease to be the case for us," Bentley says.

The two friends say not only did Morel Araujo strive to be the best version of herself, she also wanted others to do the same. She often helped young women with resume writing and prepared them for interviews too.

Both Bentley and Longo started the Social Butterfly Foundation to carry on Morel Araujo's mission.

The nonprofit is named after a lifestyle blog Morel Araujo and Longo started together nearly a decade ago.

"Mariposa, which is her nickname since she was a little girl, which means butterfly," Longo says.

The foundation will award two scholarships a year to one high school student and to a college student to help them with the cost of books and tuition.

The suspect in the case, Declan Kot, of Easton, is due back in court in June.

He now faces an upgraded second-degree manslaughter charge, meaning he could face more jail time if convicted.