Massachusetts SNAP-Ed has been providing nutrition education and promoting physically active lifestyles for SNAP eligible individuals and families since 1996. That’s right, 30 YEARS! If you are unaware, SNAP-Ed has always been a federally funded program, and funding at this point has ended. Since there is no more money, all SNAP-Ed programming is sunsetting. This is it. Our last blog. As this is the end, let’s look back at the SNAP-Ed and look at where it has been and where it is now.
When SNAP-Ed and its nutrition educators taught a class, word got out. There was no need for advertising. Schools, non-profit organizations, libraries, farmers’ markets, you name it, if there were people gathering SNAP-Ed was there. And that has continued through countless food demos, hundreds and hundreds of smoothies made and poured (and spilled) into even more wax paper cups. SNAP-Ed spread nutrition education so that preschoolers would go home and request red pepper because they had sampled it in their class earlier that day. They spread nutrition education so that older adults were able to create healthy meals that reflected their culture. SNAP-Ed has been there for all of you for all these years. You might think, and you would be correct that nutrition education was what was spread. But really, it was joy.
SNAP-Ed has been hosting a website since October of 2016. The first blog was about root vegetables and encouraged all of us to try a new vegetable. That’s an idea I can get behind! As SNAP-Ed has been posting blogs twice a month for several years, we’ve kept track of how many people read them who read them to understand what they enjoy most. In fact, our most popular blog post was in October of 2025 when we shared, ‘The Many Uses of Baking Soda.’ It was and still is a hit. Let’s look back from Broc to SNAP-Ed staff, to gardening and beyond.
Broc, the MA SNAP-Ed mascot, was “born” in February 2018. He has evolved as you can see from his first rendering pictured below to receiving his first bike last summer, as pictured above, along with a few other activities he has enjoyed and that we have enjoyed with him. Things became easier when he “grew” legs. You may have seen Broc on stickers, on posters, and soon there will be a Broc coloring book. I can’t wait! We’ve been able to see the joy he brings to others and to us.
In 2022 we began highlighting SNAP-Ed Nutrition Educators and the amazing work they do. A few of them are still with SNAP-Ed. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to attend a nutrition class taught by Kim Lagasse-Kickham, Stephanie De La Bruere, or Judy Welch you would understand how lucky SNAP-Ed has been to have staff who are and have been so dedicated. Thanks to all the SNAP-Ed staff as you leave for other opportunities. You will be welcomed wherever you land.
That doesn’t even get into the gardening SNAP-Ed has done. In 2013, SNAP-Ed began working with a farm in West Springfield to provide gardening plots for new Americans. That collaboration continued through 2017 when they expanded to help organizations in Springfield adopt policies for garden participation with both youth and adults. The gardening in West Springfield expanded to three elementary schools where education gardens were developed followed by a garden club for youth. SNAP-Ed collaborated with local stakeholders to build raised beds, received a grant to build a greenhouse, and hosted school wide tasting events. In 2021, SNAP-Ed began hosting garden planting events which led to the creation of garden committees led by teachers and parents at local elementary schools. They did all this while also providing produce for local food pantries. There are now robust and sustainable gardening programs in both West Springfield and Springfield, along with many other towns across Massachusetts, all spearheaded by SNAP-Ed who saw the need and wanted to help their communities.
In 2022 SNAP-Ed staff assisted communities in Barnstable, Plymouth, Boston and the foothills of Springfield and Holyoke to build over 50 garden beds that produced over 500 pounds of produce. They also partnered with local farms to provide over 2,500 SNAP eligible adults and youth with fresh produce. Garden beds were built at public schools, libraries, food pantries, housing sites, and even local fairgrounds.
SNAP-Ed staff love to find ways to help the communities they live in to increase food access, improve policies, and create change. They did it quietly. They did it through hard work, collaboration, working with the tiniest of budgets (accounting for every penny), and strict guidance. People who worked in SNAP-Ed were and are passionate about helping others.
Now that funding is gone, so much of this work is ending. We are grateful to the staff who sustained this program for years and you, our readers, who have participated in and supported SNAP-Ed. We hope that one day SNAP-Ed can return and that this work can continue improving our communities, but for now, we say thank you and goodbye.
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