Bread of Life's Gabriella Snyder Stelmack Is On The Front Lines Of Poverty

“When I feed the hungry, they call me a saint. When I ask why people are hungry, they call me a communist.”

The quote, by Brazillian Archbishop Hélder Pessoa Câmara – AKA, “the bishop of the slums” - sits above the desk of another activist on the “front lines” of poverty: Malden's own Gabriella Snyder Stelmack, the special projects coordinator for Bread of Life.

The group provides free hot meals – both in their kitchen and various door-to-door programs – and manages a food pantry servicing thousands of residents in the Malden area.

Like Câmara, Stelmack's faith led her to a career in poverty outreach, and further informed her views on what she calls the “ironic” injustice of a society grappling with both a hunger and obesity epidemic.

“I look at the work we do here, I call it kind of a triage,” she said. “We're on the front line, with people who don't have food, don’t have money to buy it - they have utility bills, rent, hopefully - we're just making sure people have enough to survive.

“I always say, yes, we're bandaging people up – but you have to stop the war. We're here in the trenches feeding people, but you can't leave it at that...we have more food then we could ever possibly need to consume, and people are literally starving.”

She shakes her head. “It's just crazy.”

Stelmack met the group's director, Thomas Feagley, at in Malden, when she first moved to the Boston area in the early 1980s. Back then, Stelmack was a microbiologist near Cape Cod, and moved to the city to pursue a music career.

Barring that, she said, her younger self was desperate for a career in which she made a positive impact on the lives of others.

“I started praying, and was going to church every morning (at St. Paul's),” she remembers. “I was almost 25, looked into doing almost anything, even Peace Corps work. I had to do something.”

Stelmack volunteered with St. Paul's “Bread of Life” program, started by parishioners after they noticed those unaffiliated with the church were attending events for the free meals.

From there, the group incorporated in 1993, and has since grown to include over 35 partner organizations, manage large fundraisers like the Walk for Bread, and organize 100s of volunteers from schools and churches throughout the area.

While the hard work of many went into the group's success, Stelmack and Feagley are the only remaining original founders of the group still working on the proverbial front lines. The duo will also oversee the project's expansion to a larger facility on Eastern Ave. this December.

Despite the move, Bread of Life will still continue to serve it's hot meals from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday at St. Paul's Parish on 26 Washington St., as well as 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Friday at the on 493 Main St.

For more information, call (781) 397-0404 or visit their website.