Racine Co. fundraiser benefits Azana Spa shooting victims
FRANKSVILLE -- On a beautiful, late-summer day in Racine County, the sun smiled down on Memorial Park - a fittingly named place to hold a benefit for victims of the Azana Spa shooting.
\"Our angels are looking down, they're helping,\" organizers Sarah Schulte and Laura Spranger said. \"It's kind of a healing thing and it kind of makes you feel good that people are still thinking about it.\"
Schulte, a former Azana Spa employee, survived the October 21st, 2012 incident. She lost three friends that day and knew several other women who were wounded.
\"There will be certain triggers that will cause problems for you, so you just take it day by day,\" Schulte said.
Schulte's neighbor, Spranger, decided to hold a benefit for the survivors and got to planning.
\"They're the wounded, they're not working, they're still facing many financial difficulties,\" Spranger said.
Spranger and Schulte worked hard for three months to put together Sunday's benefit, seeking donations. What they got was much more than they could have dreamed of.
\"[The shooting] changed all of our lives,\" Schulte's sister-in-law Jenny Geiger-Putra said.
Geiger-Putra volunteered to assemble a children's game area. Food and drink vendors offered their products, many free-of-charge, about 150 raffle donations rolled in and music, crafts, even superheroes gave their time and talents.
\"This is what community is all about,\" Geiger-Putra said. \"So many people love those women and all of the women that were involved that day.\"
Volunteers from the Racine Womens' Resource center came to speak about domestic violence and gun issues too. Important messages - and funds raised - for victims Schulte knows will always need support.
\"It's really lifting up a lot of spirits and making a lot of people happy and touched,\" Schulte said.
The fundraising goes beyond Sunday's event. You can donate at any Associated Bank or you can reach out to Sarah through a Facebook page, linked here