Putting the WE in Giving

October 30, 2025

By La Crosse Community Foundation

How Wanda DuCharme and Edd Storey make generosity a way of life

When Dr. Wanda DuCharme and Edd Storey sign a card, an email, or even a text, they typically end it the same way: WE.

It’s more than a signature: it’s a statement of how they live.

“We started using it early in our relationship,” Wanda said. “We sign almost everything that way. It’s who we are.”

“It really stands for partnership,” Edd added. “It means love, respect, faith, and doing things together.”

Together is how they approach everything, from traveling the world to sending postcards to friends recovering from illness or surgery. And it’s how they give: with shared purpose and a belief that gratitude is best expressed through generosity.

Through their WE Charities Fund at La Crosse Area Community Foundation, Wanda and Edd are helping others live healthier, happier, more hopeful lives — and reminding everyone that giving doesn’t just change communities. It changes us.

A faith that gives back

Their path to giving began long before their fund was established. Wanda, who practiced family medicine at Gundersen Health System, traces her values to her Jesuit priest teachers.

“Education was my magic carpet,” she said. “It opened the world for me, and I want others to have that chance.”

Edd, who spent his career in higher-education fundraising, had his perspective shaped as a boy when illness forced him to attend a special school for children with disabilities — built entirely through philanthropy. “That experience showed me how generosity can change a life,” he said.

Both were raised in families that valued hard work, faith, and service. “We’ve been blessed,” Wanda said. “The best way we know to say thank you is to pass it on.”

Turning gratitude into action

When their friend Andrew Steger introduced them to La Crosse Area Community Foundation, Wanda and Edd saw a way to make their giving both simple and lasting.
“We’d always given to causes we care about,” Wanda said. “The foundation lets us keep doing that — now and long after we’re gone.”

Wanda and Edd subsequently established a donor-advised fund, the WE Charities Fund. When they’re no longer able to advise the fund, it will turn into a designated fund that will also receive a bequest from their estate.

Through their WE Charities Fund, the couple supports causes that reflect their hearts. Among others, they support:

• Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater La Crosse, giving children the same opportunities that once inspired them.
• Mississippi Valley Conservancy, where they volunteer, clearing trails and preserving the land they love to hike.
• Midwest Jesuits, supporting the education of future priests and the care of those who have devoted their lives to teaching and service.
• St. Gabriel School in Prairie Du Chien, reflecting Wanda’s gratitude for her early Catholic education.
• Avera Women’s Center and Children’s Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, supporting women’s health and newborns with fragile beginnings.

Wanda and Edd made sure to endow the WE Charities Fund so it can grow and give for generations to come.

“Endowments last forever,” Edd said. “They ensure that good work continues.”

A community worth giving to

Though they travel hand in hand to interesting destinations in the U.S. and world, the couple always returns home to La Crosse.

“Our roots here are deep,” Edd said. “This is a remarkable community — generous, educated, full of culture — and we want to keep it that way.”

“We love La Crosse,” Wanda added with a smile. “We want it to be the best it can be!”

For them, working with the foundation means their giving strengthens the place they love most. “LACF is trustworthy and established,” Wanda said. “We know our gifts will help where they’re needed most, right here in the La Crosse area.”

The joy of giving — together

When asked what they hope others take from their example, Edd’s answer is simple.
“Touching lives: That’s the bottom line. If someone says, ‘Because of them, I’m going to help too,’ that’s all we could hope for.”

Wanda nods. “It feels good to give. You don’t have to start big. Just start. Everyone has something to share.”

Through their faith, their funds, and their friendships, Wanda and Edd have made giving a joyful way of life — one they hope will inspire others to do the same.

Because for Wanda and Edd, life’s richest rewards come from living — and giving — as WE.