A SNAPshot of Ruby Savinon
When she’s not fielding phone calls and in-person visits from people with a myriad of other financial problems, Ruby Savinon can be found in her corner office at The Neighborhood Developers, calling one potential recipient of SNAP funds after another from a database maintained by the Department of Transitional Assistance.
It’s a huge database, and part of Ruby’s job in TND’s CONNECT office is to coordinate the effort of a hotline team. “The DTA,” she says, resorting to familiar acronyms, “pays TND to fill the SNAP Gap.”
The SNAP Gap, as it’s known in social-service circles, is the surprisingly wide discrepancy between the large amount of people eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the smaller number of people who actually take advantage of the program. “We find financially eligible people in the database and help them gain access to SNAP benefits,” she says of those benefits that we used to call food stamps. “The goal is to help them avoid food insecurity and long lines at food pantries.”
Thousands of eligible people do not take advantage of the SNAP program. Of the more than 1.35 million MassHealth recipients who are also eligible for SNAP in Massachusetts, only 785,800 of them receive the benefits, leaving more than 570,000 people without SNAP benefits. In Chelsea, Revere, and Everett, there are SNAP Gaps of 44, 49, and 54 percent, respectively. “If we get 125 people enrolled,” says Nancy Turner, Vice President for Resource Development at TND, doing the math, “that puts $375,000 into their pockets and the local food economy.”
She reached out as well to a woman who is mother to a 17-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son. Her husband, the sole wage-earner in the home, used to make as much as $5000 per month driving for UBER and LYFT, but he had his hours cut when the pandemic relented, so now the family is eligible for SNAP.
Ruby asks all her clients the routine questions—age, household status, work status, wage earnings, family situation, etc., with a clear and patient voice, usually in Spanish. “People should really know that they will NOT have to worry about ICE coming to their door after they’ve applied for SNAP benefits,” she reiterates. “And applying for SNAP benefits will NOT set you back in your quest for a work VISA or a green card.”
Next up was another woman in need, a Salvadoran immigrant who, as the conversation revealed, works the counter at one of the ubiquitous Dunkin’ Donuts shops in downtown Boston. She’s the single mother of two school-aged children.
Gracias por llamarme, the lady was heard from across the table to say, with relief in her voice. “Thank you for calling me.”
This is a series of blog stories written by: Scott Ruescher, TND Storytelling Volunteer
