DISTRICT 6250 INFORMATION
Meet 2011 - 2012 District 6250 Governor Chuck Hanson
Charles E. Hanson chose a career as a lawyer to be of service to others. This same devotion to service has found expression throughout his life, both in service to the Country and to his community. He and his wife, Cheryl, have two sons, Captain Eric Hanson, who currently serves as the lawyer for Special Forces in Europe, and Captain Matthew Hanson, who currently is a fighter pilot with the United States Air Force. The Hansons have three grandchildren with another on the way.
Chuck received his B.A. Degree from St. Olaf College where he was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate in 1970. He went on to receive his Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Wisconsin, where he graduated with honors and was elected to the Order of the Coif in 1973. After law school, Mr. Hanson was a Captain in the United States Air Force and served as Chief of Military Justice at March Air Force Base, and subsequently as a lawyer for the Pacific Air Force in Taipei, Taiwan. While in the military, he received the Air Force Commendation Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, and Combined Service Forces Honorary Insignia.
Since returning to La Crosse in 1977, Chuck has practiced law with the firm of Hale, Skemp, Hanson, Skemp & Sleik. Attorney Hanson concentrates his practice in the areas of personal injury litigation, worker’s compensation, and negotiation. He is a member of the La Crosse County, Wisconsin, and American Bar Associations. He is past-president of the La Crosse County Bar Association, and led the establishment of an on-going continuing legal education seminar, the proceeds from which are used to support other service projects. He is a past president and current board member of the Wisconsin Association of Worker’s Compensation Attorneys. He is a Fellow of both the Wisconsin Law Foundation and the American Bar Foundation, the latter of which is comprised of less than one percent of attorneys in the United States. He is listed in Cambridge Who’s Who in America and has been designated as a Super Lawyer by his peers.
In addition to his successful legal practice, community service has been an essential part of his life. He is a community leader who has used his effective communication and organizational skills to make possible a variety of civic projects over the years. An active Rotarian for 30 years, Chuck is a member and past-president of the Rotary Club of La Crosse. He is responsible for founding the La Crosse Rotary Foundation in 1983 and served as its first President from 1983 to 1989. This Foundation has raised thousands of dollars since that time in support of a variety of projects benefiting Wisconsin and the wider world. In 1990, he served as the Group Study Exchange team leader to Mexico and later served as District Chair coordinating the incoming Group Study Exchange to Western Wisconsin for a delegation from Norway. As Club President in 1993, Chuck initiated the annual fruit basket community fund raiser for La Crosse, an annual project that has continued to provide approximately $12,000.00 a year which is used to fund other community service projects in the La Crosse area. As part of the La Crosse Club’s 75th Jubilee Celebration that year, he also served as co-chair of Kids Coulee, a La Crosse Rotary project involving thousands of local volunteers which built a large public interactive playground for children which remains popular today. He has served as a Rotary Youth Exchange officer and he and his family have hosted Rotary exchange students from other countries. Chuck organized and led the effort to establish the Rotary Club of Dubna, Russia, which was chartered in September, 1993. He organized and led Operation Afghan School Kids to provide school supplies to children in Afghanistan. Under Chuck’s leadership, a resource book called, The Brain Game, for early childhood development was produced by the La Crosse Rotary Club. This book is given free to parents of all newborns in the La Crosse area. This book is now being used by other Rotary Clubs as a community service project in several states. For more information, see www.rotarycluboflacrosse.org. Chuck is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow. He is also the recipient of the Four Way Test Award given by the Rotary Clubs in the La Crosse area to a Rotarian who exemplifies this standard.
Believing in the need for better international understanding, Chuck has inspired many legacy projects for which Rotary networking and support have been invaluable. He has been the founding president of four of the six sister city relationships with La Crosse, including Dubna, Russia; Luoyang, China; Bantry, Ireland, and Fjørde, Norway. The largest sister city project he chaired was known as Hands-Across-The-Heartlands that was developed to promote aid to citizens of Dubna during the bitter winter of 1991. Beginning with a committee of a few volunteers, Chuck expanded this effort to a community-wide project participated in by thousands of volunteers, and together they collected, sorted, packaged and shipped over 400,000 pounds of food, clothing, and medicine in approximately one month. Another sister city project involving the larger community is the ongoing teacher exchange with Luoyang, China. La Crosse high schools have benefitted from the Chinese sister city relationship, as teachers from Luoyang have been living and teaching in La Crosse for the last eight years. As a result, over 200 La Crosse students per year are taking Chinese classes. The Luoyang School No. 2 enjoys a Rotary reading room which is a resource for Chinese teachers instructing students in English.
Chuck is also the founder and first president of the Riverside International Friendship Gardens which are located in La Crosse along the Mississippi River. These Gardens are designed to honor the beauty and diversity of other cultures while recognizing that we are all part of one planet. The first four gardens were dedicated in 2007 and additional gardens are planned. For more information, you are invited to check out the website at www.riversidegardens.org.
The latest project involving Chuck’s leadership is designed to honor the service of World War II veterans by enabling them to travel at no cost to be honored at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. Beginning in 2008, Chuck served as the founding president of a non-profit organization known as Freedom Honor Flight, Inc., which includes a number of Rotarians. The first charter flight of veterans went to Washington, D.C. in October of 2008 and the project continues. For further information, please see www.freedomhonorflight.org.