Susan Rieple Graf ’82 is no stranger to major changes of course in her life path. The latest detour, though, has taken her down a road traveled by few, if any, others.

For two years, since the pandemic began, Graf has been an angel on wheels, delivering aid and comfort of all sorts to people without shelter, people whose other options for help were limited because of COVID-19. A year ago, she made it official, forming a nonprofit organization devoted to providing help to people who are homeless, wherever they are. They called it WINN (What I Need Now).

A La Crosse native who graduated from Central High School, Graf majored in business at Viterbo, taking the advice of her grandfather to study something practical. After graduation, she worked in banking for many years before taking on an administrative church position and then shifting to the special education field.

Active in her church, Graf stepped forward when a volunteer was sought to make a meal for 15 people to bring to the Winter Warming Center in La Crosse. That act of kindness about 10 years ago set her on a new path helping people who are homeless, a passion that has only strengthened since then.

When she brought that meal to the Warming Center, Graf saw people she had known growing up, and it brought back memories of her own childhood, when she and her mother were forced to live for a time in a car because they had no permanent shelter.

“Walking into the Warming Center and seeing people I knew, I realized that but for the grace of God that could be me,” Graf said. “I know what it is like to feel uncertain about the future.”

She was soon serving as the Tuesday overnight coordinator at the Warming Center, often assisted by her husband, Tim. Meanwhile, she was working full time in special education for the Hiawatha Valley Education District in Winona, Minn.

In 2018, Graf decided to make helping people her full-time occupation, accepting a job as coordinator at the Franciscan Hospitality House in downtown La Crosse, a daytime drop-in center designed to bring comfort to people struggling with homelessness. On any given afternoon, Graf would see about 75 people, coming in to warm up (or cool off), take a shower, get a bite to eat, get a haircut, take an art class, do some laundry, or just get a friendly smile and bit of conversation.

“The beauty of the Hospitality House is it was a connecting place, a spot where people could connect with their social workers and others,” Graf said.

Graf probably would still be at the Hospitality House today if the pandemic and related lease issues hadn’t forced it to close almost two years ago.

Out of a job, Graf didn’t spend the next day looking for work or even taking a well-earned breather. The day after the Hospitality House closed, she loaded her car with hand warmers, socks, personal hygiene items, and ready-to-eat food, and she hit the streets with Hospitality House staffer Brian Holliday to deliver aid.

“When I started going out, I thought it was temporary,” Graf said. “I never planned to do this. It just sort of happened. There was a need, and we were helping people.”

At first, she thought a new site to reopen the Hospitality House was a top priority. The hard-to-shake stigma of homelessness, however, made procuring a new site frustratingly difficult.

Graf’s friend Ken Ford, a retired pharmacist, had an epiphany. “He said, ‘Maybe you’re not supposed to have a building. Maybe God wants you to do it this way,’” Graf said.

Ford now serves on the WINN board of directors, along with Barbara Pollack, Rick Koepp, and Tarl Kaio.

Donations of money and items for distribution from friends, community groups, and churches have kept Graf’s mobile mission going strong. The “things” Graf delivers make a difference, but what has the biggest impact is knowing someone cares and sees them as a person.

“I think everybody deserves to be treated with dignity and respect and cared about,” Graf said.

Graf knows the La Crosse area homeless community as few, if any, others do, and she emphasized there’s no influx of people coming here looking for a handout. These are homegrown people, neighbors, who are struggling.

“Everybody is different. People who had good jobs and owned homes, something happens in their life and they find themselves on the street,” Graf said. “The people who are homeless are all individuals, and what one person needs to be successful can be very different from what another needs. The only common factor is they have some sort of trauma, some sort of issue that they’re dealing with in their past that led them to be homeless, sometimes through no fault of their own. It’s a hard, hard spiral to pull out of.”

While Graf is executive director of WINN, Graf doesn’t get any income from the organization. That’s not a problem for her, she said, but she would like to build WINN to the point where there could be a paid position so it will go on after she calls it a day.

“It’s a calling for me. I feel called to do it, and it will be difficult for me to ever stop doing it because of the relationships,” Graf said. “I feel like I’m the one blessed to be able to do what I do.”