On a long bicycle ride, hope for victims of domestic violence

Wanda Hurt has been up early riding her bicycle around her neighborhood in Fort Myers. She's training for a nearly 400-mile journey down Florida's east coast, to raise $1 million and awareness for victims of domestic violence. Ms. Hurt and her two sons escaped that trap many years ago in Akron, Ohio.

HURT "Fear is a big element that keeps women trapped in domestic violence," she said. "Fear to stay, fear to leave."

Lately, she has been busy sending e-mails and letters to domestic violence shelters up and down the coast and calling television stations from Jacksonville to Miami, asking them if they'd tell people about her bicycle ride. Ms. Hurt will use the money to support community groups, like the nonprofit she founded in Fort Myers last year, Mary's House of Hope, a 10-bedroom duplex where women and children can escape and move on. She asks that people donate $1 on her Web site, www.maryshouseofhope.org, or send donations to P.O. Box 2306 Fort Myers, FL 33902-2306.

A few friends and her two adult sons will go with her. They'll be twittering along the route (at followwandaride) and inviting people to ride along as they pass through neighborhoods and along the countryside. On the morning of July 8, they'll finish up with a ride through the streets of Fort Myers, ending up in Centennial Park. All are invited to ride along.

COURTESY PHOTO Wanda Hurt is riding her bike from Jacksonville to Miami to raise money for Mary's House of Hope, a 10-bedroom duplex in Fort Myers where battered women and children can escape. "It was a while back that I started thinking about doing this," Ms. Hurt said. "During these economic times we realize it's hard to ask people to donate, but it's imperative we raise money for our ministry right now. So I thought, I'll do a bicycle ride and ask everybody to donate just $1. I prayed about this for a while."

Ms. Hurt says other local shelters like the Salvation Army and Abuse Counseling & Treatment Inc. are calling her to find rooms for the overflow of families escaping domestic abuse.

"The influx of calls that continue every single week is a very strong indication of what's going on with the stress levels of not only women but men in our county right now," she said. "They're calling me and saying 'do you have rooms available? Can you financially support any other women in your program.' And the answer is, we can do that if the public will donate any amount of money they can."

A Realtor with Century 21 Sunbelt, Ms. Hurt has lived in Fort Myers for about 14 years. She started the process of creating Mary's House of Hope in 2005, and it opened last summer. Now she's spending most of her time and resources working on the house. "It's near and dear to my heart," she said, because it was spawned by a bleak time in her life. Ms. Hurt survived an abusive relationship, including beatings.

Even after she finally left her husband, Ms. Hurt said, he later kidnapped her youngest son and set her house on fire. Her ex-husband is deceased. Ms. Hurt, 53, is tentatively considering working on an autobiography about her experiences.

"It would be a very interesting book," she said, "not that my life is any different from lots of other women that have struggled with domestic abuse, and the effects after it. It doesn't just go away, especially if you're in the relationship for a long time. But there's always hope. I believe through God all things are possible and I think with a lot of hard work or endurance anyone can achieve or accomplish whatever their goals are."

Ms. Hurt will begin her ride July 1. Not coincidently, she'll be pedaling on Independence Day, in honor of women who free themselves from the fear that can immobilize them in abusive relationships. There are also plans to film the trip for a documentary; and she'll be discussing the increasing numbers of domestic violence victims with people who run domestic violence shelters throughout the state.

A truck and trailer will follow Ms. Hurt and her group with water, emergency supplies and plenty of protein energy bars.

"Most of the cities are 30, 40 miles apart with the exception of St. Augustine and Daytona," she said. "That will be the longest part of the ride."