Helping Hands
Since the coronavirus pandemic hit Butler County in March 2020, the Alliance for Nonprofit Resources (ANR) has handed out more than 500,000 pounds of food to those in need.
A portion of that food has been distributed through food pantries across the county, especially when Gov. Tom Wolf suspended the signature and income requirements because of the pandemic. Anyone who needed food in a hurry could get it, said Sandy Curry, manager for Community Partnership, which works with ANR.
Curry said both of those requirements have been reinstated, which has slowed the influx of people using food pantries along with another factor.
“For some of our pantries, we are seeing a decrease in numbers because of the increase in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits,” Curry said.
Community Partnership also has organized monthly free food distributions in collaboration with the ANR and Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank.
The distributions began at Alameda Park in Butler Township, then moved to the Big Butler Fairgrounds in Franklin Township.When the Shadrack Christmas Light Show came to the fairgrounds, the food distributions were moved to Lernerville Speedway in Buffalo Township, where they continue each month.Boxed food is placed into trunks and back seats of vehicles for anyone who signed up for the distributions.“We estimate that we fed about 14,000 people last year with just the drive-through distributions,” Curry said.The Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank provides a box of shelf-stable foods such as canned goods, pasta and cereal and occasionally a box of frozen meat or produce.Five of the monthly distributions have included Farmers to Families boxes of varied dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt, sour cream and butter.Some monthly distributions saw families receive six half-gallon containers of 2% milk from Marburger Dairy.“At one point in time last spring, people were getting five or six boxes of food when they would come to a distribution,” Curry said.The first distribution at Alameda Park in April 2020 gave boxes of food to 1,000 cars. Curry said 500 cars had to be turned away.At last week's distribution at Lernerville Speedway, 250 to 300 cars received food to feed about 400 families.Leftover boxes are distributed at events at the North Washington Rodeo Grounds in Washington Township or at pop-up distributions in Butler.The county's food pantries also receive food left over from the monthly distributions.“Nothing goes to waste,” Curry said.
She said the monthly food distributions will continue through September, when the distributions may move to produce-only.Feedback from those who receive the boxes for themselves, their neighbors or family members is always positive, Curry said.“People are there because they have a need, and we're helping them meet that need,” she said. “Last year, we had people coming who had never been food insecure before.”She said some were judgmental toward food recipients who arrived in high-end vehicles, but Curry added that people lost their jobs and spent money on bills instead of food.Some were picking up food for others in their families or those who they knew needed a hand.Community Partnership also managed the monthly Produce to People distribution at the Butler Farmers Market on South Chestnut Street, at which produce from the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank was distributed to 200 to 400 families per month.Boxes of food also were delivered to many homes in the county for those who were unable to attend the drive-through distributions.“In one week alone, in April 2020, we delivered almost 200 boxes,” Curry said. “We've probably done 800 to 900 deliveries since last year.”She said requests for deliveries have slowed down significantly in recent months.“There are a lot of weeks now where we're not getting any requests at all,” Curry said.Involve vouchersCurry said other programs at Community Partnership involve vouchers being distributed for produce at the Butler Farmers Market or community gardens being planted, so the harvest can be shared with the food insecure.“We are working on food insecurity from multiple angles,” Curry said.Looking back on the pandemic, Curry said it exposed systemic issues in the local and national food chain in the United States.She said meat shortages cropped up because of pandemic-related employee issues at the few large meat-processing plants in the United States.Curry wants to see smaller, local meat-processing capabilities, but another systemic issue is the aging population of local farmers.“That is going to be an issue at some point,” she said.She said the pandemic exposed these previously undetectable issues in the food chain.“Our work is going to be trying to address some of these deeper issues in our food system,” Curry said.
The Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank is an essential partner to Community Partnership and 14 other agencies and food pantries in the county.Beth Burrell, spokeswoman for the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank, said the organization provided 105,386 pounds of food across Butler County in April 2020.That amount increased to 140,897 pounds in April 2021, which Burrell attributes to her organization adding four new partners in Butler County that receive food.She said the value of the food donated to the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank so far is $40.6 million, and the food bank has spent $11 million on food for distribution in its 11-county service area.
Carol Lambert, coordinator at the Feed My Sheep Food Pantry in Slippery Rock, said the food pantry is at about one-third of usage during the worst part of the pandemic.She said the increase in SNAP benefits and the availability of drive-up food distributions are likely the cause of the decrease in her food pantry's clients.At the pandemic's peak, the pantry was closed to clients, and food boxes were prepared and placed into trunks outside of the pantry by a core group of dedicated volunteers, Lambert said.“We've had the same volunteers throughout the entire pandemic, and they have done a yeoman's job,” she said.She said no one who needed food was turned away because of the benevolence of the food pantry's donors.“We've got the most generous community, I think, in the whole country,” Lambert said. “People still gave during COVID.”She said Feed My Sheep will be ready and waiting if and when SNAP benefits return to previous levels.
Conversely, the number of clients in the Zelienople area has not decreased as COVID-19 has waned, said Southwest Butler Food Cupboard director Erin Makowski.“We've been steady for the past six months or so,” she said. “We're still between 80 and 100 clients per month.”Makowski said many families remain out of work, leading to food insecurity.“People have kids at home, so they're not getting the lunches and maybe the breakfasts they were getting during the school year,” she said. “We're glad to be able to provide for this many people, but I would love to see the numbers drop.”Makowski also extolled the generosity of her local donor families, who respond in spades whenever she issues a request for donations.“One woman dropped 100 jars of spaghetti sauce when she saw my request on social media,” she said.
