Celebrating Brenda Saenz and Her 21 Years of BMAC Service

BMAC is celebrating Brenda Saenz this month who, over 21 years at BMAC, helped thousands of people. Here’s a snippet of our conversation diving into Brenda’s years of service and work with the employment training team, which helps individuals get job experience and find living wage jobs in our community.

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How did you come to work at BMAC? 

BMAC helped me and my husband get our GEDs back when we were in our 20s. I started working when I was 13 years old as a migrant worker. I worked in the fields for about 7years then I went to BMAC. BMAC enrolled me into a job training program to get work experience at Helpline. I had never worked in an office before and caught on quickly.  After a few months at Helpline, I got hired at a local cable company and worked there for 10 years. I started at the bottom there as a front desk clerk and at the end of the 10years, I knew how to do pretty much everything in the office. The office supervisor would even leave me in charge when they were all out of the office. It was so awesome. After those 10 years, my husband and I moved to Texas for awhile, then moved back to Walla Walla as I was looking for a job I heard that BMAC was hiring for a receptionist. When I went in to BMAC and picked up an application and as I was reading the job description, I just said out loud, “They should have put ‘Brenda’ at the top of the job description.” It was exactly the duties that I’d did at the cable company. The person at the desk heard me, and she mentioned it to somebody, and that got me the job interview and I got hired and have been here ever since.

What roles have you played during your time at BMAC? 

I started at BMAC as a receptionist. I did that for two years. From there, they gave me the opportunity to be administrative assistant for the job training programs. I did that for 5 years. After that came the opportunity to manage the Community Jobs program, and I took it. And it’s been so awesome.  

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What is your favorite memory of BMAC? 

There was a participant that had been referred over from DSHS that only spoke Spanish and no English at all. All of her work experience was working in the fields.  I struggled because of the language barrier I was very limited as far as worksites.  I thought of Salvation Army because I knew that the Captain and his wife were both Spanish speakers and I had a good relationship with them both so,  I went in to talk to them about this participant. This was around the time Salvation Army was starting their bell-ringing, red-bucket season. And I told them, “she really wants to work, and you don’t need to speak English to ring a bell.” So they decided to work with her.  

A week later, the lady came in and said, “¿Sabes que? When I’m ringing the bell, if I smile, people put more money in the bucket!” And I said, “You just learned customer service. Add that skill to your resume!”   

The job made her so happy, and it gave her so much self-confidence. She worked there 9months and now she’s the head supervisor of housekeeping for a local hotel. She worked hard and had great attendance. She practiced her English with clients that walked in to the food bank and she went on to learn other work skills there.    

One day, she told me that she came home singing, and her daughters asked her what was wrong. And she just says, “ I love my work.”  

I’m so happy for her. 

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Why have you remained so dedicated to the organization for so many years?  

From when I was receptionist to where I am now, I felt like my voice mattered, and I was given the room to grow and learn new skills. And I’ve been able to pass that on toothers, hear them out, be their cheerleader, and remind them that it’s going to be okay. That’s why I love BMAC. And I feel so blessed to be able to give back to people what BMAC gave to me. 

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What is your wish for BMAC for the next 60 years?  

I see BMAC as a hand that pulls you up out of hard times. It was for me. And I think that itis still going to be that in 60 years. The vision that BMAC has now is to help in as many ways as possible. It’s great because a lot of my clients, not only do they work with me, but also work with other BMAC programs like Pro Bono Legal Services, Housing Programs and with Energy Assistance. Because of those different programs  , I feel that, BMAC is still going to be here. in 60 years.  So many people depend on it. I see a great future for BMAC. 

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Any words of wisdom for those who continue the work of helping others?  

Treat everyone that walks in with respect. Everyone has a story. Treat them as you would want to be treated. You can’t help everyone, and you get tired, but you can never give up on people. A kind word can make a world of difference.  Do your job with your heart.

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