DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Eight years after surviving a deadly crash in the Florida Keys caused by a drunk driver, former Delray Beach Police Officer Bernenda Marc is finding new purpose in the hardship life has brought her.
Marc was on vacation in the Florida Keys in April 2017 with fellow deputy, mentor, and friend Christine Braswell. The women were riding a scooter when a drunk driver crossed into their lane, crashing into them. Braswell was killed, and Marc was seriously injured.
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The drunk driver, Lacy Morris, was ultimately sentenced to 10 years in prison and was released earlier this month.
“The day that it happened, I woke up in a hospital. I woke up looking at the hospital ceiling and not knowing what was happening,” Marc recalled.
Braswell was Marc’s field training officer and someone she admired as a trailblazer. Braswell was the only female sniper in Palm Beach County.
“I learned so much from her. Such an amazing person. It’s so hard to give the grace of how amazing she was.”
Marc continues to live with lasting physical injuries and emotional scars.
“I was on the scooter behind her, holding on to her, and I’m here and she isn’t,” Marc said.
In the years that followed, Marc faced survivor’s guilt and even more loss. Both of her parents lost their battles with cancer.
“Loss after loss after loss, while also trying to show and prove to myself and others that I am worth being here,” Marc said.
That journey led her down a new path, prompting her to start her own business called The Preparedness Collective.
The Preparedness Collective is an online series of courses hosted on the Skool platform, designed to teach people how to prepare for danger, chaos, and the unexpected.
“Danger doesn’t knock on your door and warn you before it approaches,” Marc said.
Using her military background, law enforcement experience, and personal trauma, Marc teaches topics ranging from situational awareness and mental resilience to emergency preparedness for shootings or sudden family illness.
According to her platform, those who stand to benefit most from the courses are people responsible for others—“the parents who want their families to feel safe, the pastors who want their congregations to stay calm.”
“Fight, flight, and freeze are your emotional switches, but how do you deal with them? That’s what I’m trying to prepare you for,” Marc said.
While her online platform is still new, it is growing with a deeply personal mission. Marc hopes it also helps honor Braswell’s impact and memory.
“The sudden loss of her no longer being here was a huge catalyst for everything else that happened in my life afterward. I want to make an impact in someone’s life so they don’t have to go through the things I went through.”
