One Love Foundation

In May of 2010, the unthinkable happened to the Love Family. Sharon Love was notified by police that her beloved daughter, Yeardley Love, had been beaten to death by her ex-boyfriend, just two weeks shy of graduation from University of Virginia.

Following the tragic loss, Sharon Love, together with Yeardley’s sister, Lexie, created One Love Foundation, an organization that empowers young people with the knowledge to identify and avoid abusive relationships. It never crossed Sharon’s mind that Yeardley would ever be hurt by her partner. “I didn’t know then what I know now, that relationship abuse is a public health epidemic and that young women in Yeardley’s age group are at three times greater risk than any other demographic.”

More than one in three women, more than one in three men, and more than one in two trans or non-binary people will experience some level of relationship abuse in their lives. One Love works to provide young people with the tools and resources that Yeardley and her family didn’t have.

This year was a year of great transition at One Love, seeing new national leadership and the office’s headquarters returning to Baltimore after a number of years in New York. Julie Myers, a longtime woman’s lacrosse coach from University of Virginia, joined One Love as CEO this summer. Myers was Yeardley Love’s lacrosse coach at Virginia. “I have so many wonderful memories of coaching hundreds of young women when they played for me at Virginia. I will always cherish the shared experiences and the relationships we built. I am so grateful to continue to connect with such amazing women and their families,” Myers says, “but I will always wish I could have done more to help Yeardley. I wish I would have known. Working at One Love after so many years of being a huge fan and an active partner has been such an honor. I think of Yeardley every day as I do this important work.”

One Love’s Mid-Atlantic executive director, Ojeda Hall, was promoted in the summer to president. Hall has a background in advocacy, organizing, community development, and educational equity work, and was thrilled to take on this new leadership role for the organization. “I have been greatly honored to work with so many youth these last few years,” Hall says. “There is nothing as inspiring as watching them organize and lead the way. It gives me a powerful sense of purpose in coming to work every day and working with students to end relationship abuse.”

Since 2015, One Love has engaged young people through compelling, film-based discussions around healthy and unhealthy relationship behaviors. They have also created the 10 Signs of a Healthy and Unhealthy Relationship as a resource to help give a language to the behaviors people may experience in a relationship.

Hall recalls, “both of my grandmothers were survivors of domestic violence. One Love helped me realize that my first relationship was abusive.” Sharon misses her daughter every day, but she uses her loss to bring light to so many others. And, as the next generation learns to have healthier relationships and be with partners who practice healthy love, Yeardley’s legacy lives on, ensuring that the joy she brought to the world lasts forever.

To learn more about the One Love Foundation please visit joinonelove.org.