For the Ledezma family, giving back is deeply personal.
After Liberty Ledezma was killed as a result of domestic violence in March 2010, her family faced an unimaginable loss. In the midst of their grief, Liberty’s mother, Peggy Ledezma, was determined to create something meaningful in her daughter’s memory.
That determination led the family to establish Celebrating the Life of Liberty Ledezma, a nonprofit focused on raising awareness and supporting domestic violence prevention and education.
“We started this charity to educate and help prevent future domestic violence, at the encouragement of my mother who actually started this charity, she wanted to turn something very tragic into something better for the community helping to educate and prevent domestic violence for people. To make them aware of how tragic or what an epidemic domestic violence is,” said Natalia Ledezma, Liberty’s sister.
Established around 2011, Celebrating the Life of Liberty Ledezma became a way for the family to transform their loss into an opportunity to help others. Peggy remained the driving force behind that work until her death in 2024.
Today, Natalia and her family are committed to carrying that legacy forward.
“We are just really trying to keep something that she started within the community,” Natalia said.
A Partnership With Centro San Juan Diego
That commitment eventually connected the Ledezma family with Catholic Charities Centro San Juan Diego (Centro). About five years ago, the family learned about Created for Love, a program focused on domestic violence prevention, detection and disruption of violent dynamics at home, as well as connecting people with local resources.
For a family already committed to raising awareness about domestic violence, the program offered an opportunity to support work closely aligned with their mission.
“We were informed by another Catholic Charities person they (Centro) had started a domestic violence prevention education and for us that was highly important. Something that we wanted to help build and spread. So five years ago we started donating to Centro San Juan Diego,” Natalia said.
The partnership has continued to grow, with the family raising funds each year to support Centro’s work. At the heart of their fundraising efforts is an annual golf tournament that brings family members and supporters together in Liberty’s memory.
“Our main form of fundraising each year is we do a golf tournament and our family comes and volunteers and we have sold out golf tournament every single year and this year in particular we raised $50,000 for Centro San Juan Diego,” said Marisa Ledezma, Liberty’s niece.
Beyond the financial support, the five-year partnership has given the family a way to see Liberty and Peggy’s legacy continue through work that reflects the purpose behind their nonprofit.
“We do the golf tournament and donate that money to Centro San Juan Diego’s domestic violence education prevention program and I think we’ve developed a great relationship with Centro San Juan Diego and we believe in their mission as well and we appreciate everything that they have done with the funds that we’ve donated to them,” Natalia said.
What began in the aftermath of tragedy has grown into a lasting family commitment to helping others. Through Celebrating the Life of Liberty Ledezma and their partnership with Centro, the Ledezma family continues to honor Liberty’s memory while carrying forward Peggy’s desire to turn a devastating loss into something that could make a difference in their community.
To learn more about Catholic Charities Centro San Juan Diego’s Created for Love program, click here.