2025 Recipients
Susan and Dan Gelatt
A firm believer in community service, Dan Gelatt has served on the boards of a long list of civic, health care, and educational organizations including the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater La Crosse, the La Crosse Public Library, the Gundersen Medical Foundation, and the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents. He also served 18 years (two as president) on the Viterbo University Board of Trustees.
Dan was instrumental in the creation of the Amie L. Mathy Center for Recreation and Education, a shared facility of Viterbo and the Boys & Girls Club, the first of its kind in the nation. Another impactful project he helped lead was Wiring Wisconsin, an initiative that provided 400 schools with internet access in the 1990s.
A nurse by profession, Susan Gelatt found her true calling in gerontology, providing the residents of Bethany St. Joseph with loving care, friendship, and dignity. Such was the affection for Susan from residents and co-workers that when leaving to raise her family, Susan was persuaded to serve as the organization’s first on-call staff member, even bring her baby to work on a few occasions.
“We all need to care about people and do what we can to help each other,” Susan said. “That’s what I tried to do.”
Education, health, area youth, and animals are the focus of the couple’s current philanthropic efforts. Susan and Dan are happy to give back and make a positive difference in the greater La Crosse area, a community they love for the beauty and especially, the people.
View Susan and Dan Gelatt Video Presentation
Sue Graf
Setting out behind the steering wheel of a large, lemon-colored cargo van, Sue Graf begins each day on a mission of mercy, providing essential items and dignity to people in desperate need of both.
Graf is the founder of What I Need Now (WINN), a non-profit organization with the mission to “lovingly care for our unsheltered neighbors in the Coulee Region with empathy, compassion, and understanding and accepts individuals as they are, where they are.” Partnering with other numerous community agencies, WINN distributes everything from water, clothing, and personal hygiene items to community resource referrals about overnight shelter, health care, housing assistance, and employment. Graf seeks to get to know everyone she serves, treating each with dignity and respect.
Starting these efforts from the trunk of her car in 2021, Graf and her friend, Brian Holliday, now average 700 contacts with people each month.
“I realized God’s calling for me late in life,” Graf said. “My life has meaning and purpose when I can help other people. I have been blessed with the gifts of compassion, empathy, and hospitality, and try to use them every day to make a difference in the lives of the people I serve.”
Before founding WINN, Graf also served at the Franciscan Hospitality House, the La Crosse Warming Center, her church, the Girls Scouts, and in local schools. She was named a Spirit of St. Francis Distinguished Alumni Award recipient by Viterbo University in 2023.
“The goal of WINN is not to be needed because everyone has everything they need,” she said. “Until that happens, we’ll continue doing what we can.”