Baltimore Ravens Help Fund One Love Escalation Workshops
Workshop Aims to Empower and Educate Students The National Football League has had its share of domestic violence scandals and convictions in recent years. In February, a video appeared of a former Baltimore Raven, Ray Rice, punching his fiance in an elevator. After the incident Rice and fiance married and all charges from the incident were dropped. After the video surfaced, the NFL was put under pressure to enforce stricter punishments of player who are accused and convicted of sexual assault and domestic violence.
My goal is to reach every high school in Maryland [with the program]. ~ Sharon Love
One Love Foundation Founder
With the added pressure to combat the domestic violence problem that is plaguing the NFL, the Baltimore Ravens took the first step in moving
toward a no-tolerance of domestic
violence league by donating $400,000 to the One Love Foundation to bring Escalation workshops to all Maryland schools. Sharon Love, Yeardley Loves mother and the founder of One Love, says, My goal is to reach every high school in Maryland [with the program]. The One Love Foundation recently held an Escalation workshop at the University of Maryland with all student-athletes on Oct. 19. Escalation workshop is a 40-minute video followed by a 40-minute guided discussion with a 10-minute activation piece where participants are encourage to join their schools One Love page to stay updated. The video portion of the workshop is centered on Paige and Chase, a teenage couple. They studied together, he surprised her with coffee and they hung out often. Their friendship quickly turned into a relationship that became physical, and then physically violent. The rest of the video is laced with signs of violence that their friends look back on at the end of the video. Chase killed Paige shortly after she ended
Whats Inside?
#ThatsNotLove
Statistics
the relationship. The guided
discussion begins by asking the group how it felt about the video as a whole and then goes deeper into the different aspects of Paige and Chases relationship. When did the group start recognizing signs of abuse? What would they have done differently?
The Ravens hosted a screening
of Escalation at their training facility in Owings Mills, Md. Photo Source: Baltimore Sun
Throughout the discussion, it
becomes less guided and more of a conversation. The One Love Foundation hopes the video and guided discussion will help friends and family be more cautious of warning signs in relationships, so they can potentially help friends they suspect may need it.
University of Maryland Run for Love 5k
Fourth Annual Race Exceeded Expectations
On Oct. 10, the University of
Maryland chapter of Alpha Chi Omega and Womens Lacrosse Team hosted their fourth annual Run for Love 5k. The run was held to raise money for the One Love Foundation and awareness for domestic violence. More than 100 students, parents and friends competed in the 5k. Brendan Hutton, a member of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity at UMD, set the winning time of 18:37. Emily Kift was the first female finisher, coming in at 21:48. Emily explained after completing the race that having people cheering me on throughout the course pushed
me to run faster, I loved having
people encourage and support me while running for such a great cause. According to Alpha Chi Omegas Vice President of Finance, Jordan Thompson, the event raised more than $2,000, which was donated to the One Love Foundation. I thought the event went really well this year, Thompson said. We had the more runners than we had in the past and joining with the lacrosse team brought a new energy to the event. Caitlyn Phipps, an assistant coach for the Womens Lacrosse team who spoke to the runners before the race, grew up playing
#ThatsNotLove
Campaign Takes Over Twitter
I love you, is a simple phrase that takes on a different meaning in an unhealthy relationship. I love you can escalate from a statement of care to a statement of control, which is why the #ThatsNotLove campaign was started. The hashtag has taken over twitter with users tweeting examples of abusive statements and actions. The campaign started on Oct. 14 with a 2-minute YouTube video that quickly gained more than one million views in three days. The video encouraged people to use the hashtag to tweet examples of abuse that are framed as loving. The hashtag has been tweeted over a thousand times from all over the world. The One Love Foundation hopes that the hashtag will continue to be used and can help the campaign grow in popularity.
lacrosse with Yeardley.
She was the person that always came to practice and instantly put everyone in a better mood, She was always the person that you looked at and said to yourself I want to be like her. Phipps said. I really enjoyed the event and I loved that more people were able to hear Yeardleys story and learn a little something about who Yeardley was, not just her story. Alpha Chi Omega and the Womens Lacrosse Team plan to join together again next year and hope to recruit more runners and raise more money for the One Love Foundation.
One Love Spotlight: Jordyn Cohen
Q: How did you get involved in the
One Love Foundation? A: I have always had an interest in relationships from a psychological perspective. I did research on attachment theory in college and wanted to be a marriage counselor. I wanted to help people in one way or another. I was lucky enough to find Q: What do you like the most about out about One Love online and saw working for the foundation? they were hiring. I loved (and still A: My favorite part is giving love) the mission of the foundation students a space to be open with and the view that this is not a something that is important and womens issue, but a human issue. I relevant to them. Sometimes young firmly believe in that and love being a people dont get enough credit part this movement. but I get to see the intelligence, Q: How many schools are involved? creativity, thoughtfulness, and A: In Maryland, One Love has engaged power that young people have. with 30 colleges and 27 high schools Everyday One Love creates a and we are having conversations platform for them to take the lead with at least 5 more colleges and 7 on this movement and it is amazing. high schools. Jordyn Cohen is one of One Loves Program Coordinators for Campus Campaigns. Thanks to the Baltimore Ravens, Jordyn works with schools throughout the entire state of Maryland to roll out the Escalation Workshop curriculum on campuses and in the community.
Q: What is your broader outlook for
the One Love Foundation? A: Although the day-to-day work can be tiring and our goal to end relationship violence can feel overwhelming, seeing all the changes that have come in communities and on campuses already across the country, it feels like an more achievable goal.
Jordyn Cohen is the Program
Coordinator for One Love. Photo Source: Joinonelove.com
1 Million Yards for Yeardley
Students Run in Memory of Fallen Teammate
Three students at the University of Virginia and Boston College wanted to spread Yeardleys story by running 1 million yards for Yeardley. Within 24 hours, the three students had eight teams committed to run 1 million yards. After a week, they had 40 teams committed and within a month they had 150 men and womens lacrosse teams committed to run 1 million yards in memory of Yeardley Love. From high school teams to College teams, they all began running in memory of Yeardley and spreading her story. Fittingly, University of Virginia and Boston College were the first two teams to break 1 million yards. Teams are still committing to run 1 million yards. Recently, the Alpha Chi Omega chapter at the University of Maryland, College Park created a campus wide Facebook page to encourage runners throughout campus to run in memory of Yeardley and to track their yardage. The group had 250 contributors and quickly surpassed their original goal of 1 million yards in three days and ended up reaching 5,907,070 yards in a month.
Remembering Yeardley
With all of the support from lacrosse communities
throughout the country, the One Love Foundation has decided to create a new app, Yards4Yeards. The new app will allow individuals create or join a team, track their yards and earn points that they can then redeem for One Love merchandise or use the points to make a donation to the foundation. The app is set to release this winter.
Yeardley Love always saw the best in everyone that she
met; she lived her life with integrity, honesty and gratitude. Love grew up in Cockeysville, MD, with her mom and sister. During her high school years, Yeardleys father sustained a long battle with cancer and died in 2003. During his battle, Yeardleys Father asked her to promise him that she would live her life to the fullest and go after all of her dreams. Love excelled in field hockey and lacrosse at Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson, MD and fulfilled her dream of attending University of Virginia, where she played on the nationally ranked lacrosse team. Yeardley began dating George Huguely in 2008 for two years on and off again, while they both played lacrosse. On May 3, 2010, three weeks shy of graduation, Huguely beat Love at her off-campus apartment where she died of blunt force
Yales lacrosse team begins their challenge
to run 1 million yards for yeardley. Photo Source: Instagram
trauma. Love and Huguelys relationship was full of
signs of abuse that were brought up by Love and Huguelys friends while testifying at trial against Huguely. Relationship violence was not something Yeardleys mom, Sharon Love, was concerned about when Yeardley was at school. Sharon explained she was always worried Yeardley would get hurt on the lacrosse field or be involved in a car accident but she had no idea 1-in-3 women are affected by relationship violence. Following Yeardleys death, Sharon and Yeardleys sister, Lexi, started the One Love Foundation not only to honor Yeardleys legacy, but also to help educate and empower men and women and potentially help save others from suffering the same fate.