Free produce for bus riders
The free produce offered by Community Partnership on Friday afternoon was much appreciated by those who can no longer ride The Bus to the supermarket to access fresh food, as bus service was suspended by the Butler Transit Authority due to driver illness.
The baskets of tomatoes, greens, squash, carrots, radishes, jalapeno peppers, watermelon and other produce came from the partnership's three gardens.
Lisa Miller and her daughter, Ashley Brenneman, normally hop on The Bus just outside their door at Kaufman Street and Ziegler Avenue.
Brenneman rode the bus five days a week to attend classes at Butler County Community College, where she is earning the credits she needs to enter the school's physical therapy assistant program.
Miller rode The Bus two or three times per week to get her son's medicine at the pharmacy or grab some groceries.
The family moved from Chicora to Butler specifically because of the availability of public transportation.
“It's terrible. We can't go anywhere,” Miller said. “The stores aren't close enough to walk to.”
Brenneman has been studying at home, but will ride the Alliance for Nonprofit Resources (ANR) van to and from school starting on Tuesday.
ANR, Center for Community Resources and BC3 collaborated to provide rides to students who used The Bus to get to and from school.
Miller said most drivers did not wear masks during the pandemic or pulled them down as they drove, and Brenneman said most were not shy about announcing they were not vaccinated.
Miller has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other health problems, while Brenneman suffers from asthma. Both were happy to wear masks while riding The Bus as mandated.
“I don't want to lose my bus pass over not wearing a mask,” Brenneman said.
During the suspension of service, Miller feels for the elderly residents of the Arbors, a senior citizen high-rise near her home, those who she has seen bringing their laundry onto the bus for a trip to the laundromat, and those who ride The Bus to work.
“I'm afraid people are going to lose their jobs,” she said.
Connie Brown of Christie Avenue in Butler called the Eagle to say her son works at the Burger King on Route 8 in Butler Township, and used The Bus to get to and from work.
She said the family, which does not have a car, has lined up other family members to drive her son to work for the next few days.
“But I don't know what we're going to do after that,” Brown said.
Sandy Curry, program manager at Community Partnership, said the produce offered in the Center Avenue parking lot in Butler on Friday represented the last of the gardens the partnership put in this year for the first time.
The gardens are located at the old Bruin Elementary School, and Trinity Lutheran Church and Hillcrest Baptist Church, both in Center Township.
“We picked 200 pounds of tomatoes this week, so they had to go out somehow,” Curry said in between chatting with those coming to retrieve bags of produce. “It just so happened that our big tomato harvest coincided with The Bus' stoppage.”
She said the only fresh food available in the city is a limited selection at Miller's Meats.
She was also glad to offer free produce because food prices are rising across the board.
“That really impacts our folks who are the most vulnerable,” Curry said.
About 20 people, including 11 from the Cliffside Apartments senior high rise, had come to the produce distribution by 2:30 p.m. on Friday.
Curry said she would stay at the parking lot until she is satisfied that everyone who needs produce has gotten some.
