Hunger Action Month: Spotlight on SNAP Outreach Partner Madeline Martinez
When people stop by the Gándara Center’s weekly open food pantry—held at their new location, 1095 Main Street in Springfield, just up the road from Way Finders’ Springfield Housing Center—they are often greeted by Way Finders’ Employment Services Manager Madeline Martinez. Warmly, and with a smile.
“I sit in the meeting room at a desk, with a chair right next to me, I feel like a teacher,” said Martinez, who serves as Way Finders’ point person for coordinating outreach for the Department of Transitional Assistance’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, formerly known as food stamps. “If people need help applying for or recertifying their food benefits, I am there for them. If some people don’t know much about computers and uploading documents, I can help them. And then I’ll ask if they need help with resume writing, job searching, all that.”
As a SNAP Outreach Partner, Way Finders is among 100 agencies and community organizations across the state that are dedicated to helping people expand their healthy food budget, enhance their wellbeing, and reach goals for education and employment.
“As long as they have their ID and know the social security number for everyone in their household, I can enter their application for SNAP benefits,” said Martinez, who joined Way Finders in 2011. “The cool thing is that, if someone doesn’t have all the documentation with them, like proof of income and birth certificates, the following week I can easily catch them and show them how to upload those.”
The line of people waiting to gather healthy necessities at the food pantry—bread, peanut butter, eggs, beans, fruits, veggies, meats—has grown longer, noted Martinez. She points to inflation and the cost of everything being more expensive today, namely rent and food.
Her observation is in keeping with the increased need as tracked by the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, which supports the pantry at the Gándara Center. Per their most recent data, in May 2024 the Food Bank aided more than 125,000 people or the equivalent of about 1.3 million meals—a 20% increase in the number of individuals that they provided food to compared to May 2023.
Martinez is grateful that her outreach can bring speedy results to ease a household’s food insecurity.
“When the Department of Transitional Assistance sees an application comes from Way Finders’ portal, as one of their partners, it usually gets processed quickly and they could get emergency food benefits within seven days,” said Martinez, who also assists with applications from clients who seek help at Way Finders’ housing centers. “Because when I apply on behalf of someone, obviously a lot of people who come in, it is an emergency, right? They are homeless. They’re in shelter. Or they just got out of jail. Whatever the case may be, we add all that to the application.”
While her ultimate focus is on helping people connect with Way Finders’ Employment Support Services for job support and training, Martinez underscores the connection between this and food security. Which is to say, she sees hunger through an employment lens.
“If you don’t have food in your stomach, or your kid goes without eating, you’re not able to focus on getting a job or coming to our job training cohort. You’re stressed. Or maybe your kid comes home and says, ‘So and so has home lunch,’ and you don’t have anything to even send peanut butter and jelly? That’s so hard on parents, it breaks their hearts,” said Martinez. “Especially at the end of the month, kids will eat you out of house and home. We check in with our program participants, we’ll ask, ‘How’s your home situation?’ We just need them to be able to survive and make sure that kids are fed until the next food benefits round comes in.”
Martinez cannot offer up enough praise for the Gándara Center’s food pantry. “It’s an awesome program. It’s not judgmental, it’s open to the public. I’ve been there when the trucks with donations come in. From the Food Bank and from Stop and Shop, Big Y, Aldi. Donations from so many places.”
Thank you, Madeline Martinez—and our partners at the Gándara Center and the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts—for your dedication to supporting the community!