- April 19, 2024
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Kelly Scully, Kelly Garrison, Stacey Effner, Trish Giaccone, Mayor Milissa Holland and Kerry Cooke. Photo by Paige Wilson
Carol Reistetter, Kelly Scully, Linda Russell, Kayla Klufas, Kelly Garrison, Sharon Piety-Nowell, Stacey Effner, Michael Vasseur, Trish Giaccone, Kerry Cooke, John Tipton, Jennifer Taylor and Tammy Sanner. Photo by Paige Wilson
Kelly Scully, Kelly Garrison, Stacey Effner, Trish Giaccone and Kerry Cooke. Photo by Paige Wilson
The inaugural One Love Tennis Weekend in Palm Coast was run by women — for women.
The women's doubles tennis tournament and ball was held the weekend of May 16-19 at the Hammock Beach Resort, to benefit Family Life Center, a nonprofit that works to end domestic violence and sexual abuse in Flagler County by providing support services to individuals and families.
The idea for this tennis weekend began in November 2018 when a group of local tennis friends with a desire to help Family Life Center came together to make a difference. The One Love team members includes Kerry Cooke, Julie Harkins, Julie Silva, Kelly Garrison, Kelly Scully, Stacey Effner and Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland. The tennis tournament director was Gene Paul Lascano. One Love is a committee of FLC.
The tournament and ball raised $37,000 — far exceeding One Love's initial goal of $20,000.
"A lot of their funding is grant-based, so that has to go to specific services," One Love chair member Kelly Scully said about FLC. "This money will be discretionary, so what Family Life Center needs but can't cover with grants."
There were 80 tournament players and over 150 people at the ball, she said.
Family Life Center CEO Trish Giaccone said she's excited the fundraiser exceeded expectations.
"I love women events," Giaccone said. "And I think the fact that there were women who did this, and there were so many women involved, and it was as successful as it was — to me that's huge."
One Love chair member Kerry Cooke got emotional when the check for $37,000 was revealed and presented to FLC on Tuesday, May 21. She said it's been a dream in the making for her for a while now.
"We always go away to different tennis tournaments to fight for different causes, but we thought, 'Why not bring it here?'" Cooke said.
Next year, One Love is hoping to accommodate even more players.
Visit https://oneloveflagler.net and http://www.familylifecenterflagler.org.
