Heartfelt group commemorates 20 years of hope

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When Diane Krieser and her husband lost their daughter, Corina, they weren’t sure where to turn for support.

Corina died from a car accident in December 2001 at the young age of 22.

“We went to our church, St. Vincent de Paul, and discovered there was a need to support grieving parents,” Krieser said.

Twenty years ago this spring, Heartfelt Connections formed to do just that.

The organization will commemorate its 20th year and remember the lives of children lost during its annual Remembrance Ceremony at 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 29.

The ceremony will be at the Heartfelt Children’s Memorial on the northwest corner of the Concordia University campus at Hillcrest and North Columbia Ave. in Seward.

All are welcome to attend.

Heartfelt started as a grief support group at the church, then moved to meetings at the Seward Civic Center.

“All loss is awful,” Krieser said. “It doesn’t make a difference whether you lost that child before it was born or when they’re 60 years old, but there are different types of loss. They walk a little bit of a different grief path.”

Eventually, the in-person meetings became fewer and the online resources became more readily available.

In 2012, Heartfelt began fundraising for a children’s memorial garden.

Concordia University offered up a piece of land, and plans came together to build the Heartfelt Children’s Memorial, which is comprised of three brick walls with names of children lost engraved on the bricks.

“We have 306 names from eight different states and one foreign country,” Krieser said.

The walls are named “Faith, Hope and Love,” and are interspersed with flowers, landscaping and works of art to create a serene space.

The walls aren’t straight, but are intentionally curved.

“Grief isn’t straight. It curves and circles,” Krieser said, adding that the memorial has its own aura about it. “Walking through, you can almost feel the love of the children.”

Each year, the organization recognizes the new names added to the bricks.

Names are read during the remembrance, and families can talk about their child’s life, if they choose. They then release butterflies in memory of the children.

Krieser said it’s a way for families to bond, or not, however they are comfortable.

“Every one has their own personal stories to tell, and we love to tell them,” Krieser said.

The memorial serves as a place to reflect, cry, laugh and remember.

“It can be hard to go to the cemetery,” Krieser said. “Now, they have a place to go.”

Families or friends of those lost may purchase a brick for inscription.

“We don’t care how old the child was,” Krieser said.

The only requirement is that they had at least one living parent when they died.

Additional features have been added to the garden in the years since, including a lighted sign and sculpture.

“It got so big that people would have trouble finding their child’s brick,” Krieser said.

So, last year, they added a directory.

This year, the organization has formed a For Healing committee of three volunteers who reach out to others experiencing a loss.

“If we know of a loss, we will send a sympathy card, then we send information to this committee,” Krieser said. “They go visit the family, then send periodic mailings to get them through the first year.”

Heartfelt always welcomes new volunteers to serve on its board of directors.

Members do not have to have lost a child to be a part of the organization. They only need a desire to serve and offer support and strength to others.

“It is amazing the strength that any parent who has lost a child has. They are probably the strongest people I know,” Krieser said.

She invites the community to attend the May 29 Remembrance Ceremony at 3 p.m. to see what the memorial is all about and to reflect and remember with those who have lost a child.

More information is available at heartfeltseward.org.

The memorial is open to the public 24 hours a day. It encourages reflection and seeks to deepen relationships with those lost.

“Death ends a life, but not a relationship,” Krieser said, “because love never ends.”