It started with candy. JoAnne Wrobel ’02, an HCC clerk, would keep sweet treats in a bowl on her desk in the main lobby of the Kittredge Center. She quickly noticed how many students were dipping in and realized it wasn’t an afternoon sugar rush they were after. These students arrived on campus hungry, and they left hungry. Wrobel was happy to supply them with snacks but wanted to offer something more nutritious.
After a series of conversations with her supervisor, Arvard Lingham, now HCC executive director of community education and corporate training, the two started operating a “grab and go” food cart of ready-to-eat items, such as cereal bars and instant oatmeal, among other things.
Eventually, the cart evolved into a full-fledged food pantry with shelves of canned goods and other non-perishables that Wrobel maintained in a corner carved out of the HCC Career Closet close to her desk on the second floor of Kittredge.
“She was a silent hero. She never wanted any accolades for anything she’d done throughout her entire life.”
— Allison Wrobel ’00
She did that until 2019, when, in dire need of more space, the food pantry was moved to the second floor of the Frost Building inside the Thrive Student Resource Center, which had itself evolved from an initial focus on financial matters to concentrate more on students’ basic needs, such as housing and food insecurity.
For years, Wrobel remained a beloved figure at HCC, continuing to support students however she could. When she passed away in 2022 at 68, the campus community mourned the loss of an alum and staff member who had touched countless lives through her compassion. And yet, the fall 2024 semester proved that her legacy remains very much alive at HCC.
First, HCC Registrar Allison Wrobel ’00, JoAnne’s daughter, pledged to raise $15,000 toward a new scholarship through the HCC Foundation in memory of her mother. Once endowed, JoAnne’s Helping Hands Scholarship will be awarded annually to an HCC student involved in community service or whose career or life plans include serving their community — values that her mother lived every day.
To aid in her fundraising efforts, Allison partnered with the Visual Art Department and Visual Art Club to promote their Empty Bowls fundraiser. In the past, proceeds from the event had gone to the Thrive Center and Food Pantry, but this year the students decided to direct their efforts toward supporting the new scholarship after learning about the role JoAnne played in addressing food insecurity on campus.
Empty Bowls
Throughout the fall semester, the Visual Art Department held a series of ceramics workshops called “bowl throwdowns,” where volunteers (students, faculty, and staff) stopped by the ceramics studio to shape, paint, and glaze about 250 bowls.. Tickets sold out in advance for the Dec. 11 event, and the line to get into the ceramics studio on the third floor of the Fine and Performing Arts Building stretched down the hallway long in advance of the 11 a.m. opening. For $10, participants received their choice of a beautiful handmade bowl that they could also fill with any of a dozen or so hot soups and stews made by members of the HCC community.
Allison Ranger, a work-study student in the ceramics studio, was there. She had made more than a dozen bowls herself and was eager to see who would pick them.
“I love ceramics, and I liked the message,” said Ranger. “I think it’s good what we’re doing, that we can put our art toward a good thing.”
The benefit raised nearly $3,000 for the scholarship.
“I hope this scholarship provides meaningful support to a student in need,” said Allison Wrobel. “With the rising costs of living, many people are facing tough times, and some may hesitate to ask for the help they truly deserve.”
A New Food Pantry
The second reminder of JoAnne’s legacy came in September 2024 when the college celebrated the expansion of the Thrive Center and Food Pantry and their relocation to the Kittredge Center, just a few steps from the same desk where JoAnne once sat in the building’s main lobby and across the hall from the pantry’s original location in the Career Closet.
The new food pantry is more than four times the size of the old one in Frost and much more robust, with black wire shelving units holding rows upon rows of nonperishable food, as well as school supplies, baby supplies, and personal care items. There is also a freezer for frozen food items and a refrigeration unit for drinks and perishable items.
The college’s commitment to overcoming food insecurity has come a long way since Wrobel and Lingham first started managing the food cart nearly 10 years ago. Early on, Lingham noticed that students were more willing to ask for food, and took more generous helpings, when JoAnne
was there.
“JoAnne just had that soft, soothing mom approach that made people more relaxed,” he said. “And very quickly, I had said to Joanne, ‘I’m going to let you run with this.’ And she ran with it and that thing grew so much that it had to find a bigger space.”
A New Start
After a 40-year career working as a logistics manager, JoAnne came to HCC looking for a change that would give her more flexibility to care for her ailing mother. She found a new home working in the Admissions office, then later in Kittredge with the Business and Community Services division.
JoAnne brought her number-crunching mind to her new position, keeping track of the food pantry’s inventory and holding food drives to replenish supplies when they got low. She also brought to the job her enormous capacity for care and concern, which shone through in her work with the food pantry and the Career Closet, which provides business attire for students who have interviews for jobs or internships.
In her Holyoke neighborhood, JoAnne was known to the youth as “Nana.” She was the person kids went to when they were looking for guidance or a friendly ear. She also volunteered for the Holyoke Giants, a summer collegiate baseball team, and kept the neighborhood kids busy in the park to ensure they had a safe place to hang out with friends and stay out of trouble for a few hours.
JoAnne spent countless hours caring for her grandchildren, Madison and Nicolas Gutierrez — Allison’s children — driving them to sporting events, inviting their friends over to hang out, serving as a Boy Scout den leader for Nicholas and the neighborhood kids, and generally doing everything to earn her reputation as “Nana.”
“She was a silent hero,” said Allison. “She never wanted any accolades for anything she’d done throughout her entire life. However, I wanted to celebrate my mom and keep her memory alive by creating this scholarship. I know she would be proud that our family is doing something positive in her memory by helping others.”
If you would like to donate to Joanne’s Helping Hands Scholarship or establish your own scholarship, contact the Institutional Advancement office at foundation@hcc.edu or 413.552.2182.
Join the Frost Society
When Brown decided to make her estate plans, she liked knowing that a portion would go to HCC and support the next generation of students who will have their own stories to tell one day.
“I’m in the Frost Society, and I feel good knowing that,” she said. “Making your estate plans is not as hard as you think and not as expensive as you fear, and it will bring you great relief when you have it done.”
To learn more about becoming a member of the Frost Society, or if you have already named HCC in your estate plans, please contact John Sieracki, leadership gift officer, at plannedgiving@hcc.edu or 413.552.2746.
