Tom and Trudy Kennedy honored with 2024 Forever Friends Award
La Crosse Community Foundation names 2024 Forever Friends When he was 12, Tom Kennedy’s grandfather told him something that has guided his life ever since: “Never forget if you do the right thing, you’ll get the right outcomes.” That one sentence has served as a guide ever since, shaping a lifetime of philanthropy and service […]
More »Aviation Scholarship: A Testament to Never Giving Up
Bernard Kriesel flies high “Never give up!” would be a perfect motto for Bernard Kriesel. It was a saying he exemplified throughout his life. Born on the Fourth of July in 1925, Bernard was the middle of nine siblings. He was patriotic and family-oriented. A man of few words, Bernard lived a simple but bountiful […]
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Transforming Tragedy into Teaching With Kindergarten Fund
Kindergarten fund will help educate young minds in perpetuity As a kindergarten teacher in the La Crosse School District, Sue Blanchar says she never went to work. She went to school. In fact, she went to school for 34 years, serving as the very first teacher hundreds of area children ever had. It’s a responsibility […]
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Alzheimer’s fund supports caregivers
From supporting caregivers to becoming one Kathy Lucey has always been a caregiver, caring for her elderly parents, mother-in-law, and aunts. She knows it can be onerous, lonely work, made even more emotionally taxing when the object of your care is one of the people you love most in the world. She has firsthand experience […]
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George and Betty Kruck
From humble beginnings to hopeful futures Signs of George and Betty Kruck’s generosity and deep belief in the life-changing power of education run throughout the Greater La Crosse community. Both of them attribute the opportunities they’ve had in life to public education. Betty, the daughter of Fred and Lillian Mitchell, grew up on a small […]
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Nicholas Byrne Padesky Scholarship Redefines Traditional Criteria
Channeling Philanthropic Gift Requires Thought Nicholas Padesky had always considered himself fortunate. When his parents, Tim Padesky and Tara Johnson, informed him of their intention to commemorate his Central High School graduation with a gift to the La Crosse Community Foundation, Padesky was overwhelmed with gratitude. The news was heartwarming, yet it also presented Padesky […]
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La Crosse Community Champions: Don and Barb Frank receive the 2023 Forever Friends Award
When the La Crosse Community Foundation team was discussing nominations for this year’s Forever Friends Award, the Franks immediately came to mind. They were among the first people to start a donor-advised fund at the foundation back in 1995, and before that, they had already established a charitable remainder trust to benefit the foundation after […]
More »Forever Society Spotlight: Remembering Ron Burman, and his beloved wife Valerie
Friends from all over the world gathered in late January for Ron Burman’s funeral. He passed peacefully on January 5 at the age of 89, leaving behind a charitable legacy that will have an incredible impact in the greater La Crosse area and beyond, forever. In the last few years of Ron’s life, he worked […]
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Fund Spotlight: Heather & Stephen Ross and Maureen & Robert Freedland LPEF Fund for Diversity Education
Designated Fund Spotlight The Heather & Stephen Ross and Maureen & Robert Freedland La Crosse Public Education Foundation Fund for Diversity Education was established in November of 2021 for the purpose of providing diversity education opportunities for the students in the School District of La Crosse. Diversity education promotes empathy, reduces prejudice, and enriches students’ […]
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Fund Spotlight: Borton Construction Scholarship Funds
The Borton Construction Scholarship Fund was established by the founders of Borton Construction, Paul and Melissa Borsheim, in 2008 to support continued education in construction-related fields such as engineering, drafting, design, or other trade areas.
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