During the holidays, the spirit of charity helps ensure the county food banks and community meal programs have full shelves.

But the need for food remains constant even as food bank donations shrink in the first weeks of the new year.

The Rev. Jim Swanson, pastor of Covenant United Presbyterian Church, 230 E. Jefferson St., and director of Covenant's food bank, said it served 92 families in December. He expects that demand to continue.

“Now, after Christmas, we see the donations go down. We could certainly use more,” Swanson said.

He added the 32-year-old food bank distributes food three times a month during the last two weeks of the month.

Relying on donations of money and food, government commodities and purchasing some items from groceries, the food bank provides its clients with canned goods, frozen meats and, in the summer, donated fresh produce, said Swanson. “No eggs, no cheese, no milk,” he said.

Cindy Cipoletti, the executive director of the Lighthouse, which runs the food cupboard, 1302 E. Cruikshank Road, Middlesex Township, said she hasn't noticed a drop-off in contributions.

“Our donations were pretty steady. We find our donations go up during the holidays,” Cipoletti said. “People like to donate to us.”

Which is fortunate because the food cupboard runs on a combination of cash and food donations and purchases from the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank.

Cipoletti said the food cupboard in December served 594 households in Butler County and 312 households in Allegheny County — mostly in the Bakerstown, Gibsonia and Allison Park areas.

She said that is up from August's figures of 474 households in Butler County and 279 households in Allegheny County.

“Our biggest need right now is money because of the way we buy things from the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank,” she said.

“The way it works: $100 will buy us $1,000 worth of food if we had bought it at the grocery store,” she said of purchases from the Pittsburgh food bank.

Sue Shaltes, the co-director of the food bank at Cabot United Methodist Church, 707 Winfield Road, Cabot, puts her trust in the community.

“Our community is amazing with donations. We always seem to be able to get what we need,” Shaltes said.

Shaltes said the church food bank served 120 families, or almost 300 individuals, last month.

Some churches don't run full-blown food cupboards but are still in the fight against hunger in the county.

First English Lutheran Church, 241 N. Main Street, offers a community dinner, prepared and served by volunteers, from 5 to 6 p.m. Mondays except for holidays.

Cindy Regis, the church secretary, said “We get 120 on average, sometimes we get a lot more than that.”

She said donations of food, money and volunteers' time hadn't altered during the holiday season.

She said, “One company donated several hams for our Christmas dinner.”

Bev Mortimer, who runs the Mount Chestnut Food Cupboard at Mount Chestnut Presbyterian Church, 727 W. Old Route 422, with her husband, Bob, said the cupboard gives food, mostly canned goods and nonperishables, to 35 families once a month from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. the first and third Mondays of the month.

“We get a lot of donations and we get food from the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank,” she said.

“We get a lot of food. The elementary school in Prospect had a food drive, and we just got a big load from them,” Mortimer said.

“We usually have a lot of people donate, it really helps out,” said Mortimer, adding she and Bob have been running the cupboard for 12 years.

The Portersville/Prospect Area Food & Fellowship for People has been in existence since 1991 and is based out of the Portersville/Muddy Creek fire hall on Route 488 West.

Cindy Burns, its director, said the pantry serves 65 families.

“Most of our families are seniors, which is kind of sad,” Burns said. “We do shut-in deliveries. We make sure they are all right.”

She said food is distributed once a month usually on the first Wednesday.

She said the food bank gets donations from Slippery Rock High School and Moraine Elementary School food drives and from area churches, and volunteers come in once a month from Portersville Christian School.

Burns said the A.B.A.T.E. motorcycle club of Butler had a December fundraiser that resulted in a $6,200 donation to the food pantry.

“Demand has been increasing. Winter is always a desperate time. We have a lot of seasonal workers, people who are laid off in the winters,” she said.

But the pantry's most pressing need at the moment, Burns said, isn't food or donations or volunteers, it's space. The pantry is losing its longtime home at the fire hall.

“The fire hall's been sold, and the food pantry has to move out of there as soon as we can find a building,” she said.

“We are desperate to find a building,” she said asking that anyone who may know of a location to call her at (724) 368-9532.

Space isn't a concern for Lew Czzowitz, the manager for the food bank at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, 400 E. Locust St., which announced expansion plans in 2014.

He said, “Our donations went real well. Some of the schools and churches gave. We did quite well enough to keep inventory up to feed everybody.”

Czzowitz cited holiday food drives at Emily Brittain School and Butler Catholic School in particular.

“And we were quite fortunate that people who bought prizewinning animals at the Junior Livestock Auction at the Butler Farm Show) donated the animals to us. They became sausage and hamburger,” he said.

The food bank hands out groceries to 800 families a month, once a month he said.

The bank is open from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday.

“We could always use (monetary) donations to go to what we have to purchase,” Czzowitz said. St. Vincent de Paul also buys its food from the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank.

“People have been very generous this year, dropping off bags of food,” Czzowitz said.

“One man brought in a case of soup. That's a big help. That can be parceled out four cans at a time. Things like that really help.”

The Rev. John Pistorius, pastor of St. John's Reformed Church in Chicora and president of the Petroleum Valley Ministerium that runs the Petroleum Valley Food Cupboard, takes a hands-on approach to feeding those in need.

The nondenominational church at 334 W. Slippery Rock St. puts out a free lunch in its basement fellowship hall after its 11 a.m. service for anyone who cares to drop by. Pistorius and his wife, Christina, buy much of the food; Christina Pistorius cooks it; and the pastor does clean up.

In addition to church members who stick around for lunch, John Pistoritus said, “It varies, we usually get one or two off the street, although everybody is welcome.”

“We just had someone bring us a side dish and homemade cookies for the lunch,” he said.

He also helps run the Petroleum Valley Food Cupboard located in Fairview United Methodist Church, 120 Chestnut St., Petrolia, that serves about 70 families once a month on the third Friday.

“The high school brought in their food drive, and it was a beehive putting the food away,” he said.

Over the holidays, a Chicora supermarket donated food and bags, so customers could buy $5 or $10 bags of food to donate to the food cupboard, he added.

“Between the businesses and churches in the community or through food drives, we've never had to turn anyone away,” Pistorius said. “We are just so blessed that so many people in this community are willing to do what must be done.”

Cabot United Methodist Church Food Bank distributes from the former Winfield Elementary School, 707 Winfield Road, Cabot; 5:30 to 7 p.m. third Wednesday: call church for (724)-352-2074.Family Life Ministries Food Pantry, 932 Mercer Road; 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. third Saturday: call Barb Thompson 724-285-5572.Covenant Food Cupboard, 230 E. Jefferson St.; 9 to 11 a.m. Monday and Thursday as per schedule: call the Rev. James Swanson at covenantUPchurch@aol.com or at (724)-287-7731.Evans City Food Cupboard, St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, 202 Van Buren St., 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., first and third Fridays: call (724) 538-0542.Gleaners Food Cupboard, St. Ferdinand Roman Catholic Church, 2535 Rochester Road, Cranberry Township; 9 to 10 a.m. last Wednesday of the month: call: (724)-776-2888.Lighthouse food bank, 1302 E. Cruikshank Road. Distributes 2 to 6 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays.Loaves and Fishes Food Cupboard, distributes from CCO Building, (former Jefferson Elementary School), 650 Saxonburg Road; call (724)-287-2378.Moniteau Area Food Pantry, 625 Hooker Road, West Sunbury; 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. every Thursday; call 724-894-2338.Mount Chestnut Presbyterian Church, 727 W. Old Route 422; 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. first and third Monday of the month; call (724)-287-7601.North Butler “Feed My Sheep” Food Pantry, 324 N. Main St., Slippery Rock; 2 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and 10 to 11 a.m. Saturdays; call (724)-794-8680.Petroleum Valley Food Cupboard, Fairview United Methodist Church, 120 Chestnut St., Petrolia: 8:30 a.m. to noon, third Friday; call (724)-445-3574.Portersville Food Pantry, Muddy Creek-Portersville Volunteer Fire Station, West Portersville Road, Route 488 West; 5 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays; call (724)-368-9532.Salvation Army, 313 W. Cunningham St.; second and third full week of the month; call (724)-287-5532.Southwest Butler “Zion” Co. Food Cupboard, 557 Perry Highway, Harmony; 7 to 8 p.m. third Tuesday; call (724)-453-4184.St. Vincent de Paul, 146 N. Monroe St.; 8:30 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday; call (724)-431-2842.

Community meals available in Butler throughout the week:Monday through Friday lunchSalvation Army11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.313 W. Cunningham St.Sunday bagged lunchSt. Andrews United Presbyterian Church12 to 1 p.m.201 E. Jefferson St. (Use Cliff St. Entrance)(724)-287-4777Monday dinnerFirst English Lutheran Church5 to 6 p.m.Corner of North Main and Brady streets(724)-283-2378Tuesday dinnerSt. Paul Roman Catholic Church5 to 6 p.m.128 N. McKean St.(724)-287-1759Wednesday dinnerSaint Andrews Presbyterian Church5 to 6 p.m.201 E. Jefferson St. (Use Cliff Street entrance)(724)-287-4777Thursday dinnerSt. Mark’s Lutheran Church5 to 6 p.m.Corner of Jefferson and Washington streets(724)-287-6741Friday dinnerFirst United Methodist Church5 to 6 p.m.200 E. North St. (Corner of North and McKean streets)(724)-283-6160Saturday dinner (first and fourth of each month)New Beginnings Free Methodist Church5 to 6 p.m.416 Center Ave.(724)-285-6560Saturday dinner (second and third of each month)North Street Christian Church5 to 6 p.m.220 W. North St.(724)-282-7700Sunday dinner (last two Sundays of each month)St. Peter’s Anglican Church5 to 6 p.m.218 E. Jefferson St.(724)-287-1869