For Butler resident Karen Emert, eating dinner on Thanksgiving with her family and 6-year-old grandson, Blaze Scott, was not a surety.

“It’s the end of the month,” Emert said, as she waited in line to receive donated food at a walk-up food distribution held by Community Partnership on Monday, Nov. 20. She pushed a blue wagon cart, where her grandson was sitting.

For many in Butler, the end of the month means Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits run out.

“At the end of the month, nobody has food,” Emert said.

Emert said she has been utilizing food pantries for about six or seven years. With the rising cost of food, Emert said she is barely making ends meet.

As she juggles expenses, Emert said she uses what money she has to support her grandson. When she runs out of food, she said, she goes to the food bank. Emert doesn’t have a car. She relies on food pantries within walking distance.

“If it wasn’t for the food bank, I think some people in Butler County will not have Thanksgiving,” she said.

This is the first Thanksgiving since SNAP recipients saw a decrease in benefits this year. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the temporary boost to SNAP benefits put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic ended after February 2023.

“With everything that’s happening in the country, life is hard for everyone,” Butler resident Stephanie Sadler said. “They don’t give enough food stamps, and, like, me, I got laid off recently. (The food pantry) helps a lot to help me help my family since I take care of my family.”

Sadler, who worked as a cleaner before being laid off four months ago, said she is the main breadwinner for her mother and brother, who are blind.

“It’s just a blessing to get this (food),” she said.

Sadler said she receives some food stamps and is on unemployment. As she searches for another job, Sadler said, her family has been depending on her mother’s and brother’s Social Security checks, and using payment plans to pay the most essential bills first.

In the meantime, Sadler takes on as many odd jobs as she can mowing grass and raking leaves.

“Just anything to make a little bit of money,” she said.

She said she can count on a Thanksgiving dinner because of the donated food.

“We’re still gonna have a Thanksgiving thanks to these people,” Sadler said.

When her family is able to pick up more donations, Sadler said, they try to share what they have with other people they know who are in need.

Sadler said her family received two turkeys this season from food pantries. The second turkey was gifted to a neighbor.

Gary Powell, of Butler Township, said he planned to pick up food for himself and his wife, and another family of four.

Keeping a budget for Thanksgiving is difficult, he said.

“I feel bad for the families that have three or even two kids,” Powell said. “It’s so hard to make ends meet.“

Community Partnership, a nonprofit that manages the county food bank, has seen a significant increase in clients, said executive director Sandra Curry.

Curry said 1.7% of people in the county used a food pantry in February. That number has since grown to 7%.

“I think inflation has everything to do with why our numbers have grown,” Curry said. “The utility costs have gone up — it’s not just food.”

Curry said numbers have gone up so drastically that food pantries are now seeing a more diverse population than before.

“It’s anybody,” she said. “It’s the elderly and disabled, the unemployed. Those are the folks that always come. Folks who are homeless.

“But we can’t say it’s (unemployed) folks or it’s the elderly and disabled only,” Curry said. “Now, it’s folks who are working and can’t make ends meet because the prices have gone up.”

Curry said the food bank has seen an increase in working people going to food pantries regularly because they can’t keep up with expenses.

“Folks before went because they were having a bad month,” she said. “What we’re seeing now is a higher rise in folks coming on a more consistent basis.”

She said people who come to food distribution centers are able to receive an extra 30 to 40 pounds of food they otherwise wouldn’t have.

“If we didn’t have a charitable food system in Butler County, then there would be nowhere for those folks to go,” Curry said. “We would have people who wouldn’t be eating, children not eating, the elderly not eating,”

In the last four or five months, Curry said, walk-up and drive-by food distribution centers have run out of food due to the high volume of need.

“There were more people than food available,” she said.

With Thanksgiving coming up, Curry said, any additional food people can get during the week will likely be used to supplement what is supposed to be a celebratory meal with family.

Butler city is considered a “food desert,” an area marked by limited access to affordable fresh food.

Areas with higher levels of poverty are more likely to be food deserts, according to the USDA. Low vehicle availability and public transit are also contributing factors.

“(Food access) is a need that’s here,” volunteer and Butler resident Marilyn Crowley said. “There’s no grocery store downtown.”

Crowley spent the evening volunteering with her 14-year-old daughter, Izabella.

“There’s that community need,” Crowley said. “We’re a community. It’s not going to work unless people are doing their part.”