Continuing a Legacy
Matching Gifts Program Helps
Generous Donor Theresa Raso '59 Give Back
Theresa Raso ’59 enjoys few things more than riding the shuttle bus between the JFK/UMass Boston station and the university, mixing with students on the final leg of their journey to campus. “They remind me so much of myself back in the 1950s, when I commuted from South Boston to Teachers College at Boston,” she says. “No matter what time of year it is, they seem thrilled to be coming to campus.”
The first and only college graduate in a family with seven children, Raso understands the challenges— financial and otherwise—faced by students then and now. At age 14, she took a job to help pay her Cardinal Cushing High School tuition bill. And when it came time to choose a college, she turned down a partial scholarship to a private school because she knew she would be unable to repay the remainder of her college costs when they came due.
“UMass Boston students remind me so much of myself back in the 1950s. They seem thrilled to be coming to campus.”
—Theresa Raso,'59
The affordability of Teachers College, a UMass Boston legacy school, made it possible for Raso to obtain a college education and pursue her dream of a teaching career. She and her husband, Vincent, went on to raise and educate four sons and had 47 years of marriage. In their retirement they also became passionate volunteers for Boston’s West End neighborhood, their church, and international education programs.
Raso is delighted to have the opportunity to make a college degree more affordable for UMass Boston students who aspire to the teaching profession. She has endowed the Vincent F. and Theresa M. Raso Family Fund, named for her and her late husband, with a gift of $17,000 and an $8,500 match from the UMass Boston Alumni Association Matching Gifts Program. The program contributes 50 cents for every alumni dollar donated, on any gift between $5,000 and $25,000, up to $100,000 per year through fiscal year 2016.
To learn more about how the Alumni Association Matching Gifts Program can help you make a difference for UMass Boston CEHD students, please contact Carol Kelley at 617.287.7597.
