American Red Cross Seeks Local Heroes

GREEN BAY, WI—(WGBW)— Real-life superheroes come in all shapes and sizes. They come in all ages and abilities. Real-life superheroes are the ones that go above and beyond to help those in need. The American Red Cross of Wisconsin Northeast Chapter is seeking local heroes to be honored at the 2025 Annual Northeast Wisconsin Heroes Golf Classic.

The Red Cross of Northeast Wisconsin will honor individuals who have shown exceptional courage, dedication, and selflessness through their heroic contributions to the community.

“Northeast Wisconsin is filled with remarkable individuals who are driving positive change in our communities, and this is our chance to honor them for their contributions,” said Rebecca Rockhill, Executive Director of the Red Cross Northeast Wisconsin Chapter. “Your hero could be a coworker, family member, neighbor, friend, group or even an organization that has shown selfless bravery or made a meaningful impact in our community. If you know someone who deserves recognition, we encourage you to nominate them.”

Rockhill said that Red Cross chapters all like to recognize the everyday hero.

 ”In different ways. Each of the chapters recognizes heroes who do extraordinary things every day. We ask our community to nominate these heroes to really take the chance to lift them up, to tell their story,” Rockhill explained. “They don’t do it for recognition, but we want people to hear their story and we want people to hear the good that is being done in the community and that there are everyday heroes that are making oftentimes lifesaving acts of heroism.”

If you know an individual, group of individuals, or an organization that has gone above and beyond to save a life or make our community better, you’re encouraged to nominate them. To nominate a hero, visit website redcross.org/wisconsin and fill out the online nomination form. All nominations must be submitted by May 31, 2025.

“You know, last year we were able to recognize somebody within the biomed field who had given over 150 gallons of blood starting way back when. We have firefighters that have gone above and beyond to save lives, or someone who was just working in a grocery store and was able to save the life of somebody who collapsed,” said Rockhill.

“Amazing stories that otherwise wouldn’t get heard and wouldn’t get told. And just like you said, they’re not the ones who are saying, oh, I’m gonna nominate myself and tell my story. It’s someone who may have had their life saved. It may be somebody who watched this heroic act or has been just inspired by something that someone has done, and they are the ones that we are asking to make those nominations tell that story and allow us to recognize the heroic acts of people in quiet communities, in small ways that have made a big difference.”

The Red Cross will celebrate honorees across the following categories: Blood Services Hero, Disaster Relief Hero, Emergency Response Hero, Military Hero, Red Cross Hero and Youth & Young Adult Hero at the golf outing on August 25th.

Rockhill said the nominees can be individuals or groups that have done something amazing.

 For example: “From one of our high schools that recognized the need for a homeless shelter and heard that there was a shortage of shoes, and they made a large collection within their school and all of the different students to bring in gently used shoes. So they brought together so many shoes to donate to this homeless shelter,” Rockhill said. “This is a group of young kids who are going above and beyond to meet a need. That is the type of thing that we really wanna recognize.”

Nominees may come from any of the Red Cross Northeast Wisconsin counties: 

Brown, Calumet, Door, Fond du Lac, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Marathon, Marinette, Oconto, Outagamie, Portage, Shawano, Sheboygan, Waupaca, Waushara, Winnebago, The Onedia Nation, and three counties in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan – Delta, Dickinson, and Menominee.

To view the description for each hero category and to nominate a hero or group of individuals, visit our website redcross.org/wisconsin. For more information or questions, please email Rebecca Rockhill at [email protected].