Thea's Pantry
Thea’s Pantry was established to help address the plight of students who experience food insecurity so they can stay focused on their studies and complete their education. The food-pantry effort has involved students from the SNAP practicum, which awards course credit to students who help in the campus SNAP office and other projects; Worcester State Enactus, an entrepreneurial club that’s very involved with community service; and the Urban Studies Club, which works on several anti-hunger and community initiatives.
Thea Aschkenase, ’07
The pantry is named after Thea Aschkenase, a 2007 alumna of Worcester State University who was a life-long advocate against hunger. Aschkenase was a Holocaust survivor who was liberated from the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1945. She and her husband, Efraim, immigrated to Worcester in 1954. At age 92, she authored a memoir, Remembering: A Holocaust Survivor Shares Her Life.
In addition to being a voice of remembrance of the Holocaust, she also made it her mission to help others. She graduated with a degree in Urban Studies in her early 80s and, through her connection with the Intergenerational Urban Institute, volunteered to help hungry children and adults gain access to nutritious food.