- February 23, 2026 Social Justice, Association
Imagine getting a phone call from your favorite pro sports team — the team you've supported your entire life, the team you hold season tickets for, the team that represents the very fabric of your community. For Associate Tony Pichler, a lifelong fan of the Green Bay Packers football team, that's exactly what happened.
In November, Tony received a call from a Packers representative, saying he'd been nominated for the National Football League's (NFL) Inspire Change Changemaker Award, an annual award given to local leaders who make a difference in their community. Each of the 32 NFL clubs recognizes a community leader for the award, with 2025 being the fourth year it was given.
In complete shock, Tony's first thought was, "There's probably a thousand people nominated, so it's like a courtesy call. "Then came the words that left him speechless: "You are the recipient for the Packers."
On December 27, 2025, prior to the start of the Packers' Inspire Change game against the Baltimore Ravens, Tony stepped out onto Lambeau Field, where he was recognized for his work in the Northeast Wisconsin community, providing essential services and support to those experiencing homelessness. He was then presented with a $10,000 donation from the NFL Foundation, which he split between the organizations closest to his heart — Whatsoever You Do, Inc. and Envision Greater Green Bay.
Yet, even in that surreal experience of recognition, Tony's thoughts turned outward. "It's not about me," he says. "This is an amazing opportunity to have a light shone on Whatsoever You Do and Envision. You can't buy that kind of exposure." And the publicity has already brought new volunteers and renewed community awareness.
Tony's journey to this moment spans more than 30 years of work with people on the margins. He co-founded three vital organizations in the Green Bay area: St. John the Evangelist Homeless Shelter; the Micah Center, a daytime resource center for adults experiencing homelessness; and Whatsoever You Do, Inc., a nonprofit that provides outreach to seniors, persons with disabilities and those in poverty, where he currently serves as chair of the board.
After 40-plus years in church ministry in parishes, at the Diocese of Green Bay and St. Norbert Abbey, Tony now serves as executive director of Envision Greater Green Bay, a futuring nonprofit that helps organizations and communities plan 10-20 years into the future using strategic foresight analysis.
Whatsoever You Do, Inc. operates on an annual budget of less than $50,000 with no paid staff, yet its impact resonates throughout Green Bay. The organization runs five programs, all centered on one core principle: relationship.
Streetlights Outreach, its flagship program co-founded by Tony and his high school classmate Steve Meyer in 2007, sends teams into downtown Green Bay every Wednesday and Thursday evening from May through October. Groups of three to four volunteers bring food and water, but more importantly, they bring presence.
"We bring ourselves," Tony emphasizes. "Our whole mission is to encounter people and to build relationships with people on the streets, on the margins, and to remind them in that relationship that they're good people, that they're worthy, that they have worth."
A few months into starting Streetlights Outreach, while out on the streets, Steve asked Tony how they measure the success of what they were doing. While formulating an answer, a man in a hoodie approached Tony and Steve, asking what they were doing. After hearing their elevator speech, the man shook his head. “No, that’s not what you guys do," he said. “What you guys do is you encounter people, you look into their hearts, and you remind them that they’re good people. That’s what you do.”
Taken aback, Tony and Steve looked at each other, knowing they had just found their mission statement. And then the man disappeared. That message, delivered by someone Tony calls “the angel of Streetlights Outreach,” has guided their work ever since.
He speaks candidly about the stigma faced by people experiencing homelessness. "If you took away my home, my job, my family, and I was relegated to living on the streets or in shelter, I would become a raging alcoholic," he says. "So, I can never judge or look down on somebody who has an addiction."
For Tony, barriers are broken and relationships happen by simply showing up on a consistent basis. "They get to know us and our story, we get to know them and their story," he shares. "There are more similarities than there are differences. Challenges don't make them less of a person."
A CSJ associate for over a decade, Tony was drawn to the CSJ community through Sisters Judy Miller and Shawn Madigan. "The aspect of the CSJs that really spoke to my heart was the love of the dear neighbor. If that's the charism, that's what's really baked into the community, then that's also baked into me.
With his new role at Envision, Tony's commitment to the CSJ charism is expanding its reach. "This position has really opened some other doors to be in the lives of people that I normally wouldn't be," he says. "I also get to bring the concerns and the need to be in relationship with people, especially on the margins, to people of the highest levels here. It’s a unique opportunity."
When asked how he inspires change, Tony's answer reflects his humility, "All I've tried to do is model what it is to just be an authentic person of faith and be with anybody. I'm as introverted a person as you're ever going to meet. That proves to me that anybody can be in a relationship with people if you give them a chance."
But the work remains the same: showing up, building relationships, reminding people of their inherent worth and dignity. It requires only what Tony has been giving for over three decades — presence, consistency and an open heart. That's the change Tony Pichler inspires — one person, one relationship at a time.
To learn more about Whatsoever You Do, Inc., visit whatsoeveryoudo.us. For information about Envision Greater Green Bay, visit EnvisionGGB.org. Both organizations welcome donations and volunteers.