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Wauzeka community fundraises for park/garden in sisters’ memory

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The family of Trinity and Lena Bartels, and the Wauzeka community, hope to create a memorial park and garden on Main Street where their home once stood. These two sisters were just 15 and 12 when a Jan. 19 house fire claimed their young lives. An April 23 benefit will help build the park in honor of the girls and how they touched the small community.

The video game phenomenon, Halo, announced, in late February, an update that pays tribute to Trinity and Lena Bartels. Because Adam Bartels is a well-known fan and player within the Halo community, developer 343 Industries created an in-game update called the “Spartans Never Walk Alone pack.” The pack contains the True Light emblem, which is named after the first initial of each of Adam and Rebecca’s daughters’ names, and is the first animated emblem presented in Halo 5. All players received this pack as part of a free update. Also, a special feature has been added in Halo 5’s new Arena map, Torque. As players look up and scan the stars above, the names Trinity and Lena will be visible in the night sky. (Facebook photo)

By Correne Martin

Sisters Trinity and Lena Bartels were always together. They were sweet girls with angelic faces, who enjoyed traveling with their parents and were blessed with a zest for life. They were bright, shining spirits within the small community of Wauzeka, where they attended school their entire lives.

But, on Jan. 19, 2016, the unthinkable happened.

A house fire that started late in the night on Jan. 18, and continued into Jan. 19, claimed the girls’ young lives. Just as they always were in life, they were together when they died.

The community of Wauzeka remains devastated over the tragic loss of two of its most innocent. Although, in a way, as tragedy sometimes does, the fire’s aftermath has seemed to bring the community closer. Also, the support, love and prayers have meant so much to the girls’ parents, Adam and Rebecca Bartels.

“They want the community to know they appreciate everything,” said Mary Bartels, Adam’s mother, who spoke on behalf of the family recently. She said her son and daughter-in-law are taking one day at a time as they grieve. “We were close before, but this has brought us so much closer.”

“In those moments where nothing can comfort you, there’s at least some comfort in receiving community support,” added Jen Kapinus, who has been a great source of assistance for the family.

Kapinus represents the Crawford County Salvation Army and initially helped to coordinate the overwhelming amount of clothing and monetary donations sent the Bartels’ way. Now, simply as a member of the Wauzeka community, Kapinus is one of the forces behind a Bartels family benefit, planned for Saturday, April 23, in Wauzeka, and sponsored by the community.

Because Adam and Rebecca have received an incredible amount of monetary and material donations from individuals, including some they’ve never even met, families who’ve experienced similar tragedies, volunteer organizations, area school districts and sports teams, etc., they are able to move on financially, Mary said. The two are back to work and are building a new home in a new location this spring.

The April 23 fundraiser is about paying it forward, in memory of Trinity and Lena, to the Wauzeka community. The couple would like to see a memorial park and garden created not only to honor their daughters’ lives but also to remember how they touched the entire community. It will be located on the property where the Bartels home previously stood.

“It would be nice to have the site of something so horrible be a memorable place of healing and beauty for the family,” Kapinus said. “We really want the benefit to be a source of joy for a community that’s been so sad since the fire.”

The benefit starts at 3 p.m. in the Wauzeka-Steuben School District’s Doll Gym, with a pork dinner and all the trimmings. (Roth Feeder Farms is donating the pork.) Freewill donations for the meal are appreciated. Basket raffles will be available during the dinner and throughout the evening at both the Doll Gym and across the street at Century Hall.

As a special tribute to the girls, the middle school and high school choirs, in which Trinity and Lena both sang, will perform some sentimental songs in their honor.

“The kids from school, especially their classmates in the seventh and ninth grades, wanted to be involved, and my grandchildren too,” Mary said.

At Century Hall, a silent auction will take place from 3 to 6:30 p.m., with a live auction starting at 7 p.m. Top prizes will include a Green Bay Packer football signed by the 2015 team, processed beef and pork donations from area farmers, six original Thomas Kinkade prints (unframed) that are autographed and come with a certificate of authenticity and appraisal, spa packages, several Wisconsin Dells vacation packages, bean bag boards, a gun cabinet, handmade quilts, a 20-quart Yeti cooler and much more. Auction items will be posted on the Bartels Family Benefit Facebook page.

“There’s also going to be an auction item that’s a really big reveal,” Kapinus noted. “If anyone wants to donate something, they can contact me (cjkapinus@centurytel.net or 326-8321).”

Additionally, raffle tickets will be sold. The first-place prize is a 5-7 night stay in a one-, two- or three-bedroom condo at any Wyndham resort in the U.S. The second-place prize is a 65-inch Vizio flatscreen TV donated by Wauzeka Bingo, third place is $200 cash donated by Peoples State Bank, and fourth place is a cut ribeye loin ($200 value) donated by Stuckey’s Market.

“So many people have said they want to help. This benefit is their opportunity. Come for dinner, buy some raffle tickets and just have a good time with the community,” Kapinus stated.

Mary Bartels explained that the memorial park in her granddaughters’ honor is anticipated to feature pink and purple flowers—their favorite colors—trees, benches, a pavilion, a picnic table, a Little Free Library and a small play area for children.

“It will have an overall feeling of serenity,” she said. “Jesse Ray (a Wauzeka native) is donating his time as a landscape architect toward the park.”

Adam and Rebecca intend to donate the land and the park to the Wauzeka community.

“Everything just kind of stopped for our family and it’s been really tough,” Mary said. “But everyone’s support has been amazing. By donating the park back to the community, it’s their way of showing how much the thousands of cards, letters, prayers, fundraisers and acts of kindness have meant to them.”

Though there have been other fundraising efforts for the Bartels family, this benefit is one hosted by the entire Wauzeka community. The committee organizing it includes about 15 people, with representatives from Wauzeka-Steuben Schools, Wauzeka churches, Peoples State Bank, the American Legion, the Lions Club and the Bartels family.

“This is by far the worst circumstance anyone could imagine,” Kapinus added. “But the way people have come together for one another truly gives you hope in humanity.”

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