WACO, Texas — Latoya Wells lost her daughter, 21-year-old Sakyra Young, on August 14, 2020. Police said Michael Howard Jr. shot young during a domestic violence incident.
Now Wells is working with new nonprofit InFinitye UNited to provide other women in that situation a safe person to talk to and a safe place to go.
Wells said women who find themselves being abused often do not want to tell family, and it was the same way with her daughter when Wells tried to intervene.
"Sometimes people influence you like that. You don't tell your family things like you used to," Wells said. "I went to Waco PD, I went to his parents. I went to his uncles. You name it I went. No help... a lot of times ladies are scared to speak up, a lot of times they feel like they are trapped."
Saturday, InFinite UNited founder Phyllis Ewing held a fundraising event with the family in north Waco. Ewing said half of the profit went to her non-profit to help other women in the same situation, and the other half would go to a scholarship in Young's memory.
Ewing said she was a domestic violence survivor herself and was just getting the non-profit started. She had wanted to do her first fundraiser in a way that honored Young.
"I wanted to know if I could do it in honor of the Forever Young Scholarship Foundation and she was on board with it," Ewing said.
Ewing said she wanted to create a non-profit to stop domestic violence and abuse that could tap into all the resources available in the community. She said the event raised money by selling Mary Kay gift baskets and also gave away food to the community. Ewing said it made around $150 in total. Ewing said she was putting together emergency care packages for victims of domestic violence.
Other resources in Central Texas for include the Family Abuse Center and AWARE Central Texas.
