Some exiting letters of resignation from SNAP
Some of the leaders wish to post their personal resignation letters here. The will be accumulating over the days and months ahead.
To the SNAP BOD
I have been with SNAP for over 20 years and have always had full confidence in the integrity of the BOD of SNAP. While I may not have agreed with everything that they were doing, I always believed they had the survivor’s best interest at heart. With the
current BOD, I do not believe that they mirror either of these attributes. In fact, they have shown themselves to be dishonest and lacking of moral authority.
There are numerous examples that I could cite over the last 2 years but let me use a recent even that should illustrate my concerns. Melanie Sakoda appealed the ruling for receiving unemployment benefits after being fired from SNAP. At her dismissal, neitherAngela nor Shaun would offer any specific reason for her being fired but warned her not to request unemployment. She did appeal and she won unemployment benefits. I attended the hearing in support of Melanie though I could not stay the entire time. During this hearing, I specifically heard Dan McNevin state that Melanie refused to work on the 2024 conference (this is probably wrong since I did see her work on it very hard) but then he added that the conference was the biggest fundraising event that SNAP has. Dan said this to a federal judge and I have a recording of it. For the past year and a half, Dan has been telling everyone that SNAP has NEVER made money on the conference. I have several emails from him to that effect. This truly calls Dan’s integrity into question and causes me to ponder why he is the treasurer of SNAP. He has either been lying for the last 2 years or lied to the federal judge.
I also read Angela's submission to the federal judge. It was submitted the very day of the hearing and this did not allow for much time to review and adequately rebut. However, I have read some of it since that time. Angela is accusing Melanie of
favoritism for allowing a friend, Sally Zakhari, to enter the conference for free. Let’s ignore the fact that I had paid for Sally’s admission and that neither Dan nor Angela even bothered to ask Melanie about this before firing her. They simply saw that Sally had not paid and then leapt to the inaccurate assumption that she must had been let in for free. In the submittal, Angela implies that Sally should not have been treated as a leader and should never have been allowed into the leaders meeting because she had not been properly ratified. This is a clear case of rewriting history. The whole idea of leader ratification only came about after the conference had closed. Sally had been recognized at the beginning of that very conference as a leader and was given a green lanyard. She had also been listed on the SNAP website as a leader along with her contact information. She was, in fact, invited to the leaders’ meeting. While Angela’s statement about Sally not being ratified was technically correct, it was written in such a way as to lead the reader to the conclusion that Sally’s status of being unratified (whatever that might mean as this concept defies definition) had occurred before the conference, which is simply not true.
For this reason, and dozens of others that are listed on rememberthesurvivors.org, I believe that SNAP leadership can no longer be trusted by me or by survivors in general. I regretfully but rightfully resign from SNAP. Please remove any reference to me from the SNAP website as I can no longer be associated with what I perceive as a corrupt organization. I request that my image, likeness, writings and spoken word no longer be used to promote SNAP or any of its activities.
Sadly, but defiantly,
David Lorenz
Former SNAP Maryland Director
o the SNAP Board of Directors and the SNAP Executive Director:
You will see my name on the Joint Resignation Statement sent to you by the SNAP Reform Caucus. After more than eighteen months of attempting to communicate in a meaningful way with the top leadership of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, I have come to the conclusion that continued efforts are futile.
You have not listened.
You will not listen.
You are closed to even a conversation.
As a result, I am left with no option but to resign from SNAP and continue my volunteer work on behalf of survivors of abuse elsewhere. This decision is entirely due to the intransigence, gaslighting, and disrespect that we, as a group, have experienced from your leadership.
Following the August 2024 Annual SNAP Conference—where deeply troubling events occurred—we requested a conversation. You refused even a one‑hour Zoom meeting with twelve of us. Today, we depart with twice that number of signatures and a renewed determination to carry on this work in a new setting.
I could detail here the failures of the Board and the Executive Director, but none of these are secret. They are documented at RememberTheSurvivors.com and reflect a pattern of inept and abusive leadership. At what point did SNAP begin to mirror the very abusive and corrupt institutions we have spent decades exposing? When did SNAP’s top leadership adopt the same behaviors and values as the churches and institutions I have worked to hold accountable for the past twenty‑four years?
Your removal of all of the leaders in the US and around the world from SNAPnetwork.org is the final indignity. We cannot be reached by survivors. You have removed our support groups from the website also. You expect a generic form to replace all of us? I will not stay while you cut the heart out of a once vibrant and impactful organization.
I am wasting my breath attempting to speak with you. I will do so no longer.
I hereby tender my resignation, effective today. I look forward to a future with the Abuse Survivors Coalition, where we will reclaim the founding ideals of SNAP and build a new peer‑to‑peer network to fill the void SNAP has left behind.
Sincerely,
Susan Vance
Former Leader in Tennessee
As some of you will have already seen, I added my name to a group Resignation (to SNAP administration ) today. 37 years ago, 34 year old me would never have seen this day coming.
However I am leaving SNAP for two important reasons. The first is that my vision of who I could be, as a survivor advocate, activist, support person, Abuse Researcher and Archivist, has grown so much in the past 4 decades.
I am so grateful to the fellow leaders and allies who I have met along the way. You have been an inspiration to me and the reason that I could not quit before this, as we met each new challenge. Words cannot describe my deep respect and love for you. You helped to stay strong against Churches, Religious Orders, Church leaders, and those nasty Catholic Conferences who loved to thwart our work at every turn.
But you're also the very reason that I cannot passively stay a part of an organization which is no longer aligned, in my opinion, with with our mission, as I understand it.
I have learned too well, by listening to all of you for all these years. I cannot be a part of an organization which I no longer consider to be safe for survivors, leaders, or allies--whether that be the Church or any one survivor organization.
My second reason is that I now have a broader vision of how we can work to change things, by creating a coalition of many individuals and groups who focus on even more aspects of protecting the vulnerable, healing the wounded, preventing the abuse, and Fighting for Justice.
We have learned so much about all these things for 40 years, and I believe that this is the ABSOLUTE WRONG TIME to make massive changes in SNAP, emphasizing risk management, control of message, "professionalization" of SNAP, centralized communication, control, proprietary content, and branding. (This is my own personal opinion of trends that I am seeing.)
These things are also triggering, imo to survivors. If you read the above paragraph again, this method of organization also describes the way that every Catholic diocese is organized.
Even the new email contact system, is, in my opinion, not survivor friendly. And, full disclosure, it is set up in the exactly the same method and visual as many dioceses: survivors must give information about themselves, with all of those risks and triggers, before learning who they are speaking with.
I cannot support these things.
For most of the past 4 decades, SNAP has meant EACH OF us and ALL of us. With my new knowledge, which I believe that I understand correctly, WE are not members of SNAP anymore, unless we are members of the current administration/Board.
This, in no way reflects the NETWORK that 2 Ohio female survivors began to build in 1989 Chicagoland. It is the polar opposite , in my opinion, of what was ever intended.
So this is my personal resignation, and the reasons why I cannot, in good conscience, remain.
Many thanks to David Clohessy and Laura for all that you have taught me, especially all the talks on grassroots organizing. That you for your tireless support of survivors and always fighting the good fight and making good trouble. You are the best.
Thank you to Judy Block Jones and Steven Spaner for thousands of things, big and small, that you did for other survivors and me. I cannot say enough about the countless hours that you spent driving, speaking, writing, holding up pictures and signs, working on website and press releases, documenting survivor stories and standing up to truly corrupt and evil Church leaders (and communication directors) for the whole Midwest. Thank you for always gathering us together and for the laughter and support. You are the SNAP that I dreamed of, embodied in 2 leaders.
Thank you to Mary Dispenza for being Mary Dispenza and for your beautiful heart and love for so many.
And thank you to the SNAP REFORM CAUCUS for being the biggest and best surprise of my old age. Your courage, integrity, dedication and love has amazed me. You were amazing as SNAP leaders and equally amazing in taking on problems within our own organization. I love and respect you forever.
This was long but 37 years of SNAP was long, especially the last year, so if you read this far, thank you. I am giving my resignation to the SNAP leaders and I realize the many of you don't even know me. But I respect all of you.
You are all also welcome to join us at abusesurvivorscoalition.org
as we build a bigger tent to meet the challenges of the future.
Respectfully submitted,
Terry Steubenville aka Ohio Valley SNAP