“God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be ... If one part suffers, every part suffers with it ... Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
(1 Corinthians 12: 18, 26, 27)
These words have been resonating deeply this year as a number of tragic events hit the Lakeside family in the summer of 2021. And as we “suffered with” each other, Warriors immediately—and most importantly—began praying. Then they joined in the many community responses for these families. From cash donations to cleanup, from Scoopie Nights to Pint Nights, from breakfasts to auction donations, from bake sales to banners— tangible expressions of that Christian love have been poured out. And the prayers continue!
Brian Hafenstein (‘86) family On Wednesday, June 16, Forever Warrior Brian Hafenstein’s (‘86) wife, Tammy, and future Warrior, 12-year-old Sarah, were involved in a car accident. Tammy passed away at the scene, and Sarah was airlifted to American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison with critical injuries.
At left is a partial list of injries Sarah sustained in the head-on collision June 16. At right, Brian and Sarah relax on the new deck of their house after 88 days away.
Zastrow/Neumann families At 1:15 a.m. on Thursday, July 29, an EF1 tornado in Concord left a wake of destruction—hitting some Lakeside family members especially hard— and Warriors immediately pitched in to help. At the Zastrow farmstead, Lloyd and Karen Zastrow saw house damage, and they lost their equipment as well a barn built during the Civil War.
Miraculously, just 65 days after the accident, Sarah left the hospital. Even with a long road of recovery still ahead, she was able to join her 6th grade classmates on the first day of school in August. Sarah’s siblings are also Lakeside grads: Danny (‘11), Dustin (married to Lisa Scott, both ‘15), and Laura (‘17).
before Sarah came home, Warriors headed to the Hafenstein house, joining to help with some final construction and to make the home more accessible.
The house of Forever Warriors Jim (‘80) and Mary Zastrow and daughter Colleen (‘14) was pulled from its foundation. Their house needs a complete rebuild.
Since then, a scholarship fund has begun in Tammy’s memory. Donate at bit.ly/hafensteinfund Among other damage, an EF1 tornado July 29 at the Lloyd Zastrow family homestead in Concord flattened a Civil War-era barn.
The Hafenstein family at Laura’s LLHS graduation in 2017. Back, L–R: Danny, Dustin, Brian. Front: Sarah, Laura, Tammy A public Facebook group, Healing Hands for Sarah, has more than 1,600 members. A GoFundMe page raised more than $50,000 for the more than two months the family essentially lived at the hospital. Fundraisers were held throughout the summer. Their home church, St. Paul, Lake Mills, held a t-shirt sale. In the days
Clean-up crews: among dozens who assisted were Forever Warriors Liz Loppnow and Ben Neumann, both ‘21, (top) and rakers Abigail Buxa, Kaitlyn Shadoski, both ‘19, and Beth (Duddeck ‘88) & daughter Brielle Leis (‘24).
page 6 | Lakeside Lutheran Link | 2021 Issue 2 | llhs.org
