Hidden in the Sunflowers: Proceeds for kids’ art bags at HEB go to their cancer treatment

Bethany Wines around age five. Her dad said this was the first fish she ever caught. Bethany was a daddy’s girl and they went everywhere together and did everything together. She loved fishing with him.

FREEPORT — Almost six years later, the pain of losing their daughter to a rare cancer still weighs heavily on Tracy and Jarrod Wines. That’s why H-E-B bags featuring their daughter Bethany’s art are on sale with proceeds going towards child cancer treatments through organizations like the Periwinkle Foundation.

“It doesn't get easier but you just learn to cope with it,” said Bethany’s dad, Jarrod Wines. “We have so many people that come out and support us. I was waiting for a friend to call me and they finally called and said the bags were at H-E-B. The next day, they sold out.”

Wines described his daughter as a daddy’s girl. They went everywhere together and did everything together. Fishing, deer hunting, softball. He said the community’s support over the years has meant so much to him.

“Hidden in the Sunflowers” is the colored pencil drawing Bethany submitted to the Brazoria County Fair which is featured on the H-E-B reusable shopping bags. Proceeds from the bags go towards child cancer treatments through non-profits like the Periwinkle Foundation.

“People we don't even know contacted us about the bags,” Wines said. “For us, that's a comfort that, five years later, people are still keeping her in their memory. We rarely go somewhere that we don't see somebody wearing a T-shirt from the fishing tournament or something in her memory.”

Her stepmom, Tracy Wines, added that Bethany always loved art, too, but really got into it once she turned 10. So much so her parents paid for her to take art lessons for a year and, using her new skills, she entered her art in a contest at the Brazoria County Fair for a chance to win a week at a summer art camp.

The piece she entered in that contest, “Hidden in the Sunflowers”, features a little boy in overalls and a straw hat, surrounded by a field of sunflowers, happily pulling one towards his face to sniff it. Gazing at the piece, it’s easy to forget it’s a colored pencil sketch drawn by a 12 year old girl. It invokes feelings of calm and bliss.

“She would be floored to know her bags are at H-E-B all over Houston and selling out. And there are kids who take years of art and don’t win rodeo awards,” said Tracy Wines.

Bethany won, but was already in the hospital by then. She never got to go to that camp.

A shrine in the Wines’ home for their daughter, Bethany. The painting reads, “She is clothed in strength and dignity and laughs without fear of the future”, from Proverbs 31:25. This was Bethany Wines’ mantra while she was in the hospital, her mom said.

“The irony is she won and she didn't get to go to camp but through these bags, the Periwinkle Foundation will receive funds where they can send kids to these art camps,” Tracy Wines said. “So, through these bags, other kids will get to go or even get help medically for their illness.”

Between the annual Bethany Wines Memorial Fishing Tournament, the art bags and other ways the couple has tried to honor their daughter’s memory, it does start to weigh heavy on their hearts. Despite that, they have no plans of stopping for now according to Bethany’s stepmom.

Jarrod (left) and Tracy Wines (right) pose in their home in Freeport. They work together on several projects created in their daughter’s honor, like the popular Bethany Wines Fishing Tournament. They also have a scholarship in her name.

“It brought a lot of people together,” Wines said. “We didn't do a fishing tournament before this. We have over 200 people that fish now. I've bought a lot of art that other kids did through Periwinkle and put in our home or give as gifts. That's kind of put us in another realm.”

Bethany’s art has been so popular, the bags keep selling out, according to Wines. When the bags are restocked, they can be purchased at any H-E-B in Brazoria County and in some locations in Houston.