To Pierce with love

RANDOLPH — Randolph is giving the Clausen family of Pierce a collective hug.

That hug is in the form of cash donations and a hand up to help the family overcome the tragic loss of three children - Andrew Clausen, 12, Candace Clausen, 15 and Alex Clausen, 17 - in a house fire Jan. 29.

Abby Dorcey and Amy Reimers were acquainted with the Clausens as at the three families are all involved in wrestling.

After the Clausen’s tragic house fire, Dorcey and Reimer’s feelings moved them to take action.

“We have seen the Clausen family at many, many wrestling events over the years and you would always find LeRoy on the side of the mat coaching and their children wrestling. When we heard of the tragedy, it weighed on all our hearts and we had many conversations about their family,” Reimers said.

The three Reimers children, Bentley, Sadie and Maverick, decided to donate the Christmas money they received from their grandparents to the family.

“Then we got the idea we wanted to give more and decided maybe buckets at school would be a nice way to raise more money to help the family,” Reimers said.

Donation buckets were placed at the high school and elementary school offices with more than $500 collected.

Meanwhile, Dorcey and Reimers got busy making plans to host a root beer float fundraiser. And when they put out the call for help, the Randolph Youth Wrestling Club responded in a big way.

“We had everything supplied within a half hour. My phone was going crazy with people saying, ‘I’ll do this. I’ll do this. Is there anything you need? Are you sure you have enough? Is there anything I can do?’ It was truly awesome that they were willing to step up and help do whatever they could to make it a success,” Dorcey said.

The duo - along with other wrestling moms - scooped up 240 root beer floats last week and $2,300.

“We didn’t really have a goal in mind and I was shocked,” Dorcey said. “It was just more or less a mindset of whatever we could do to help them.”

The wrestling club signed a card for the Clausen family and the deposit slip for their donation was included.

“Wrestling is such a family oriented thing,” Dorcey said. “You can walk in as a complete stranger and by the end of the day, you’re considered family. If there was a way we could help their family we were more than willing to do that.”

And many people have felt the same way - offering to help in a myriad of ways - since the tragedy.

Todd Stonacek of Stonacek Funeral Chapel donated the caskets and his services for the Clausen children’s memorial service and dozens of others pitched in to provide what was needed.

Northern Heights Baptist Church parishioners served the line that formed at visitation as nearly 900 people came to pay their respects.

Wilber-Vault donated the casket vaults. Village Flower Shoppe in Norfolk donated the flowers.

Renner Wraps of Norfolk donated the wraps on top of each of the closed caskets to personalize each one.

Marathon Press of Norfolk donated the memorial folders.

Jerry’s Hilltop in Randolph, Taylormade Catering in Pierce, HyVee in Norfolk and Tyson Foods donated items for the meal after the service. Pat Beltz smoked the meat.

“A lot of hands were involved,” said the director of Stonacek Funeral Chapel with locations in Norfolk, Pierce, Osmond and coming soon to Randolph.

Now, LeRoy, Theresa and Lillian Clausen find themselves in the painful position of moving forward without their loved ones. But they are finding continued support in the community and surrounding areas including new living arrangements furnished and well-stocked with groceries and supplies.

Larry Janssen of Randolph will be donating his services to demolish the former residence.

Both banks in Pierce are collecting donations for the family and First State Bank in Randolph is a drop-off location as well.

“They’ve had a lot of donations from all over the United States,” Stonacek said.

And he’s continuing to accepting donations for those who want to help the family with a monument.

“It’s people from all over, not just Pierce,” Stonacek said. “That’s how all these towns in Nebraska do things. Everybody steps up.”