Thea Wasche and her dog Willow are volunteers for the American Red Cross of Colorado Animal Visitation Program. They generously provide comfort, companionship and care to wounded service members and veterans. Since the pandemic began, Thea and Williow have provided comfort to frontline workers, patients at hospitals and vaccination clinics.
Thea also volunteers as a Mass Care Feeding and Sheltering lead with the Southeastern Colorado chapter of the Red Cross. In 2020, Thea deployed countless times to provide shelter and food to communities here in Colorado and as far away as Louisiana.
Thea worked tirelessly during the Cameron Peak fire. Day and night, she provided shelter to evacuees and was one of the first friendly faces they would see that day. Thea led her team with enthusiasm and often worked 12-hour days with a smile on her face. In between her deployments in Colorado, Thea supported hurricane relief in Louisiana. She worked an incredible number of hours feeding those displaced by the hurricane and driving an emergency response vehicle from one community to another.
When one disaster ended, Thea volunteered to help provide relief at the next one. Thea‘s compassion, commitment and willingness to give her time and energy make her a true community hero.
