- September 20, 2024
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Julie McDonald-Silva and Kerry Cooke are organizing the One Love Tennis Tournament and Tennis Ball fundraiser at Hammock Beach Resort to raise money for the Family Life Center. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Director of Tennis Gene Paul Lescano and tennis pro Don Groundwater put up a sponsor sign. Courtesy photo
Tennis Ball during the 2019 One Love tournament at Hammock Beach Resort. Courtesy photo
Kerry Cooke, seated, and Julie McDonald-Silva at the Hammock Beach Resort lobby. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Twenty years ago, Kerry Cooke and Julie McDonald-Silva became casual friends, raising their children in Flagler County.
Ten years into their friendship, they became closer as they helped each other escape abusive relationships.
Now that they have made it to the other side, they want to give back.
“We didn’t know it at the time, but one in four women are victims of domestic (violence),” McDonald-Silva said. “We got to the point where we realized that we’re the lucky ones. We're whole. Our children are whole. But there are a lot of women in Flagler County who are victims.”
Three years ago, Cooke and McDonald-Silva founded the One Love Tennis Tournament at Hammock Beach Resort to raise money for the Family Life Center in Flagler County, which provides refuge for adult victims of domestic abuse and accompanying minors.
Now they have started their own non-profit, Women With Wings, to raise more money for the Family Life Center and shelters in other communities and help victims of abuse receive the support they need.
They raised $42,000 for the Family Life Center through the first One Love tournament in 2019. Because of the pandemic, they were unable to hold the tournament the past two years, but the tournament and the Tennis Ball and Silent Auction are returning May 12-15.
“We opened registration on Feb. 7th and sold out in 10 days with 128 women coming from all over to help support women who have been affected by domestic violence here in Flagler County,” Cooke said.
The Tennis Ball and auction is scheduled for May 13 at 7 p.m. at the Yacht Harbor Village lobby and veranda overlooking the pool and intracoastal. Admission is $75. Cooke and McDonald-Silva are also looking for additional sponsors, especially one more food sponsor to help provide meals for the tennis players.
They have been heartened by how many people have been willing to help their cause: Hammock Beach Resort, tennis director Gene Paul Lascano and his staff, Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly, who spoke at the Tennis Ball three years ago and is expected to attend again, Voya Financial and other business sponsors and women from around the country who play tennis and decided to travel to Flagler County to support women who need help.
“The Family Life Center works on a shoestring. They are desperate for help and for money, for clothing. A lot of these women, they're showing up with their children and saying, ‘Help me. All my stuff is still back at the house. My husband locked me out.’”
KERRY COOKE
“The Family Life Center works on a shoestring,” Cooke said. “They are desperate for help and for money, for clothing. A lot of these women, they're showing up with their children and saying, ‘Help me. All my stuff is still back at the house. My husband locked me out.’”
McDonald-Silva said some people perceive domestic abuse and strictly physical, but there are many other forms of abuse that trap women in perilous relationships.
“There’s financial abuse where women don’t have access to money,” she said. “There’s emotional abuse, there’s verbal abuse. And a lot of women dismiss it, that it’s OK. It’s never OK.”
Both women say they now have supportive husbands, who assist them in their cause.
“Our lives are so parallel,” Cooke said. “We went through it at the same time, where it was the most heart wrenching. And now we're on the other side, and we can give back. Our logo is the butterfly. We started as caterpillars, and now we’re spreading our wings. And not only that, we’re helping other women spread their wings.”
