As frigid weather grips Butler County, area citizens lend a helping hand
BUTLER TWP — When Travis Frenchak learned that a burst water pipe had shut down the Butler Meals on Wheels program for at least a week, he knew he had to help.
So Frenchak, owner of The Hoagie Shop at the Bon Aire and Point Plaza shopping centers, decided to donate about 170 hoagies to the organization.
The hoagies are being put together Wednesday morning at The Hoagie Shop's former North McKean Street location, so that each Meals on Wheels client will receive one large hot hoagie and one cold. The large sandwiches will provide enough food to last each client a few days.
“It's not a big deal,” Frenchak said. “I just figured we were close to them so it would be convenient for them.”
The ruptured hot water pipe was discovered Sunday morning at the Meals on Wheels headquarters in the basement of St. Peter's Anglican Church on East Jefferson Street. The water damage caused production of the meals to shut down until Monday, as dry food, paper products, office supplies, furniture, printers and other electronics and the floor and walls were drenched in hot water.
“Even their small hoagies I can't finish,” said Mary Pataky, Meals on Wheels director, of The Hoagie Shop's sandwiches. “This will give a nice bundle of food to each of our clients that will help them get through several days.”
She said another donor from Slippery Rock also called to offer assistance. Pataky said that individual's generosity will result in sides like potato chips and a fruit cup accompanying the hoagies.
“The people in Butler County are very caring, giving people and we get to see it,” Pataky said. “We've existed for 48 years without government funding.”
She said the organization's $215,000 annual budget is covered by donations and a few grants. Clients who are able also pay a small fee for the meals.
She said many other concerned citizens have called to offer help after learning of the burst pipe.
“We're now limited as to what people can do because we're still dealing with the insurance company,” Pataky said.
She said volunteers came in on New Year's Day to telephone each of the organization's 105 clients about the stoppage. Another crew came in on Tuesday to call the clients and let them know about the hoagies.
Frenchak said the cold hoagie for the project will be The Hoagie Shop's most popular item, “the regular,” which is similar to an Italian sub.
The hot hoagies will be pork or roast beef without lettuce or tomato, so the clients can easily reheat them.
“Obviously a lot of people depend on Meals on Wheels for a daily meal,” Frenchak said. “We just wanted to help out the best way we could.”
Assembling 170 hoagies with multiple ingredients may sound like a Herculean task to the average person. But Frenchak was calm about the project on Tuesday morning.
“It'll take about an hour-and-a-half,” he said.
He said The Hoagie Shop participates in many fundraisers all year, including donations to the Butler County Humane Society, breast cancer awareness projects and providing school supplies to children each August.
“Now we're donating a few hoagies,” Frenchak said with a good-natured shrug.
Meals on Wheels provides meals to those within an eight-mile radius of the city who are recuperating from illness or who suffer impaired functional ability.
The Rev. Andrew DeFusco, the pastor at the Anglican Church, said that Sunday school and other programs in the church's basement will not be affected. The church has offered a nursery and a large conference room to Meals on Wheels to set up a temporary office while repair work is being done, he said.
