Support outpouring for family changed by tragedy

By Correne Martin

The communities of Prairie du Chien, Mineral Point and Cottage Grove, a day care and even NFL star and former Badger J.J. Watt are banding together in support of the U’Ren and Steiner families, which were shattered by a fatal four-vehicle crash Feb. 12, in Madison.

Kirk U’Ren, 37, of Cottage Grove, was traveling with his wife, Jenni (Steiner), 34, a Prairie du Chien native, to the Badgers’ Sunday basketball game, on State Highway 30. Just before 5 p.m., a 25-year-old Stoughton driver lost control of his car, crossed the median, went into a ditch and then went airborne, landing on top of the SUV that U’Ren was driving. The impact caused the SUV to collide with two other cars, according to Madison police.

Kirk was pronounced dead at the scene and Jenni was transported to a Madison area hospital with life-threatening injuries. A family member told Madison news media Friday that Jenni suffered severe head injuries, but doctors hadn’t determined how much brain damage she had at that time. As of press time Monday, there had been no update on her condition.

According to Madison media reports, one of the other cars contained a 35-year-old Madison woman who suffered a minor injury and the second contained a couple from Pewaukee, who were not injured.

The suspect, whose name has yet to be released because he faces no charges connected to the collision yet, was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. He was transferred to the Dane County Jail on Feb. 13. Media reports claim speed may have been a contributing factor in the accident. However, authorities said, he was taken into custody on a probation/parole hold. The crash between the man’s car and the couple’s SUV remains under investigation.

According to WKOW, of Madison, records show the man was released from prison two years ago after serving a sentence for falsely imprisoning a victim in Grant County. Records also show one of the man’s past crimes was illegally possessing prescription drugs.

Kirk and Jenni U’Ren live in Cottage Grove with their 1-year-old twin boys, Kayden and Grayson, who were not in the vehicle at the time of the accident last week. According to friends, the boys were safely at home with their grandmother and are safe in the care of family members.

Jenni is a 2000 graduate of Prairie du Chien High School and the daughter of Russ and Mary Steiner, of Prairie du Chien. She was a senior manager at Baker Tilly in Madison. Kirk, whose funeral was Saturday, was a 1998 graduate of Mineral Point High School and the son of Ron and Geri U’Ren. He was a sales supervisor at Pepsi-Cola in Madison.

Friends said the couple was en route to the Wisconsin’s game against Northwestern at the Kohl Center when the crash took place.

Last week, as news of the accident began to spread across the state, three crowd-funding and event organizing web pages were established at Go Fund Me, You Caring and Sign Up Genius in order to help Kirk’s and Jenni’s families manage this extraordinarily difficult time. Two of the pages were created by Kids Safari Learning Center, where Kayden and Grayson continue to attend school tuition free. The third was started by their co-workers at Baker Tilly and Pepsi-Cola.

All three sites were vastly shared across social media and, within just two days, over $130,000 was raised through monetary and in-kind donations of diapers and wipes, family meals, cards of hope and faith, trust fund contributions, etc. As of press time, more than 157,000 had been pledged or donated.

Among those donations was a $10,000 gift from Houston Texan defensive end J.J. Watt. Watt made the donation on the YouCaring page, commenting:

“This is terrible news to hear. Kirk was a big help to our foundation in the early years and was always so energetic and upbeat. My thoughts are with Jenni and the whole family and if there is any way that I can help, please let me know,” said JJ Watt.

In addition, a raffle and fund-raiser was put together for the Prairie du Chien High School girls’ basketball game Friday night. Jenni was a three-sport athlete as a Blackhawk. Also, her mom taught in the Prairie du Chien School District for many years. Raffle items and a donation box collected just over $1,600 for the family.

Anyone interested in helping to support the families may contribute at: https://www.youcaring.com/theurenfamily-758663 (You Caring is a fee free site); www.gofundme.com/U-RenFamilySupport or www.signupgenius.com/go/70a044ea4a92aa31-uren1.

For more support details, visit kids-safari.com.