Loreiny Peñaló, a physician assistant in Springfield, was enjoying a cold January night at home with hot and tasty Dominican takeout incoming.
Reaching for her order of chicken, tostones, and arroz con gandules, Peñaló recognized a familiar face — one that had inspired her as a high school student to study science and eventually pursue a career in medicine.
The delivery man standing in her apartment lobby was 69-year-old Wilmer Melendez, a retired Springfield Central High School chemistry teacher. He was hustling for DoorDash because he and his wife, another retired teacher, needed to pay for credit card debt, emergency home repairs, and their son’s college education.
When Peñaló learned Melendez, who has a chronic autoimmune disorder, needed financial help, she posted about their encounter on social media. Her classmates from Springfield Central’s class of 2010 quickly took notice and launched a GoFundMe page supporting Melendez and his wife, Lissette, 63.
In about one week, the community raised more than $41,000. Peñaló said she wasn’t expecting to raise nearly that much and was floored by the response.
“I thought, if we get to $300 I’d be happy to get to that,” Peñaló said. “I never expected this outpouring of support, and that this would resonate with so many people.”
She shared the news by making a delivery of her own to the Melendez home a few days later. Peñaló arrived with balloons and told her former teacher about the GoFundMe. A TikTok of the moment got more than 65,000 views.
“Loreiny and her friends, all my students, there were a lot helping out, they feel very proud of me and it was amazing, it’s very special,” Melendez said in an interview.
This spring, Melendez said, he got on the phone with banks to get out from under the worst of his debt. He’ll also have an easier time paying for his son’s engineering degree, he said.
Peñaló said Melendez deserves financial security because teachers such as him help young people reach their goals — and influence future generations. She told him as much the night they first reconnected over her takeout.
“I told him, ‘All of your hard work paid off. Look, I made it,’” she said.
Melendez’s wife, who moved from Humacao, Puerto Rico, to Massachusetts more than 30 years ago, said Puerto Ricans can be at a disadvantage come retirement if part of their career was on the island and the remainder in the states.
Her husband, who started his teaching career in Puerto Rico, was unable to claim all his years of service on the island for Massachusetts teacher retirement benefits, Lissette Melendez said.
“We retired and our money wasn’t enough,” said Lissette Melendez, who retired after teaching special education and English language learners in Springfield for decades.
@loreinypac Link is back up for those who want to continue to donate! Genesis 22:14 El Señor provee/The Lord will provide #doordash @DoorDash #MrMelendez #teacher #science #update #latinapa #physicianassistant @GoFundMe
As a student in the 2000s, Peñaló said, she benefited from having someone like Melendez, who moved from Puerto Rico to Massachusetts in 1990, as a teacher.
“I remember him being a Spanish-speaking teacher who taught science, which was great representation for someone like me, who’s a Latina,” said Peñaló, who is of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent. “We don’t typically get a lot of representation in that way.”
Peñaló also said she knows firsthand how teachers can struggle financially, because her sister is an educator in Springfield, teaching English as a second language. Each year, Peñaló volunteers at her sister’s school and helps pay for classroom decorations.
In the medical field, Peñaló also mentors Latinas in local physician assistant college programs, being a role model for other first-generation students like herself.
“This cause is especially close to my heart,” she said.
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