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Support for Lacye and Lilith

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Dear Friends, Family, and Community of Lacye and Lilith,

  It is with great sadness that I compose this letter to you.  As many of you are beginning to hear, we lost Bart Wesolowski to an accidental asphyxiation on Monday, May 14th.  Lacye & Lilith are surrounded by a strong team of support here in Sebastopol, but at a time like this we are calling in more support from the larger circle.  
   Lacye would like to be transparent about finances because it is uncomfortable for her to be asking for support in this way. Lacye is currently without a solid home. Her last home situation became uncomfortably complicated, & so she had been staying with Bart until she found something safe, affordable, & suitable for long-term.  Unfortunately, she was also laid off of the wonderful job that she had for the previous year. It was already feeling like she was nearing rock bottom.  We can’t even imagine how this blow of losing Bart can be tolerated by her nervous system, that said she is navigating this all with such grace. Even though Bart & Lacye officially ‘split-up’ 2 years ago, they have remained legally married & committed to each other as family & partners in raising their daughter. Bart was working through the legal immigration process. For this alone, she still currently owes $5,000 in federal back taxes. Due to the logistics of his immigration status, Bart couldn’t have any of his own credit cards. This said, Lacye took on this debt, along with an innumerable amount of other expenses that are surfacing daily. I mention some of this not to create judgement or shame. Bart had the best intentions on paying these expenses himself, and never would have purposefully left Lacye to carry this alone. I mention this only to be very clear on what kind of financial burden she has been left with & what she will need to become stable without him.  She has also taken on the expenses for the cremation and the upcoming memorial.
  As a community, we also hope to also help cover Lilith’s preschool expenses for the foreseeable future.  ChildKind has been lovingly supportive, and Lilith is very happy at school.  It is the most stable environment for her. Although there may be lower cost schools for next year, free public school does not begin until fall of 2019.
  Lacye wants you all to know that she is floored with gratitude at the outpouring of love and support.  It may take some time for her to get in touch with you directly, please allow this space.  She is feeling very motivated to turn some of her attention towards heading to school so that she can find a career that will support the family and become the best role model single mama that she can be.  If you feel that you might have others ways of helping please feel free to contact me, Sarah Wieland. 
   The support team is also working on organizing a Memorial Service for Bart.  Please save the date for Wednesday 4pm on June 13th .  Bart passed away on the New Moon and we would like to honor him on the next New Moon.  It will likely be in Ragle Park in Sebastopol. More details will come soon.  We apologize for any inconvenience it might create that this is a midweek gathering.  We are really hoping to collect kid friendly stories from all of you who knew and loved Bart so that we can compile them into a book to offer both Lilith and Sebastian so that they might remember their dad with laughter & love.  For those that may not know, Bart was father to 3 year old Lilith Ember and Sebastian who I believe is now 16 years old.
  There will be a separate fund set up for Sebastian once we can coordinate with his mother. Please contact me if you would like to be notified when that is available. [email redacted]
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Donations 

  • Kandice Kaus
    • $111 
    • 6 yrs
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Fundraising team (2)

Sarah Wieland
Organizer
Raised $10 from 1 donation
Forestville, CA
Richard Winkelpleck
Beneficiary
Lacyeloo Winkelpleck
Team member
Raised $561 from 6 donations
This team raised $9,700 from 103 other donations.

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