Butler Community Meal Ministries see strain ahead of SNAP stoppage
Butler Community Meal Ministries is seeing a spike in attendance in the weeks leading up to a stoppage in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and its leadership is unsure how it will manage to support it.
Justine Brown, one of the community meals coordinators and a manager at Katie’s Kitchen at St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, said the meal at St. Mark’s usually sees an average of 340 attendees — but this past week was different.
“We served over 400 people at a meal twice,” she said of the last week. “Katie’s served 418 and another (location) served 408.”
Butler Community Meal Ministries is a collaborative effort to provide nightly meals to residents in the Butler area. Through the program, a meal is offered at a church each weeknight between 5 and 6 p.m.
First English Lutheran Church offers meals on Mondays, St. Paul Roman Catholic Church on Tuesdays, St. Andrew’s United Presbyterian Church on Wednesdays, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church on Thursdays and First United Methodist Church on Fridays.
Butler Community Meal Ministries locations
• Monday: First English Lutheran Church, corner of North Main and Brady streets.
• Tuesday: St. Paul Roman Catholic Church, 128 N. McKean St.
• Wednesday, St. Andrew’s United Presbyterian Church, 201 E. Jefferson St., use Cliff Street entrance.
• Thursday: St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, corner of Jefferson and Washington streets.
• Friday: First United Methodist Church, corner of North and McKean streets.
While the program was able to support the surprise bump in attendance, Brown said she’s not sure how Katie’s Kitchen or the rest of the community meals locations will sustain the additional meals long-term.
“I’m not sure how we’ll manage it financially or how we’ll even be able to feed all of those people in the time that we have,” she said.
Brianna O’Malley and Michael Budner, two patrons of the community meals program, said while waiting in line for Katie’s Kitchen that there would be a lot of uncertainty until funding is restored.
“I’m not too happy about it,” she said. “I mean, through the holidays?”
She said each of them normally receives around $300 a month in SNAP benefits, which makes up the vast majority of their grocery budget for the month.
In its absence, Budner said they’ll have to find other ways to get food on the table. He said programs such as the community meals serve as a last option for getting dinner.
“It really helps in between when we don’t have much,” he said.
Even though things look dire for the two until funding is restored, Budner said how appreciative he is to live in a supportive and generous community like Butler.
“It’s very beneficial,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a lot of places where you can go and get a free meal everyday.”
A recipient who identified himself as Jahad, said he was recently released from prison and has been using his benefits to help fill the gaps while he readjusts. His worry, however, was for those who cannot work for themselves.
“Me? I’m young. I’m able-bodied. If I need to work more, I can do that. But there’s so many who can’t,” he said.
To donate to the Butler Community Meal Ministries, checks can be sent to Communuity Meal Ministries at 201 W. Jefferson St., Butler, PA 16001. To learn more about Butler Community Meal Ministries, visit cmmbutler.org.
Outside of supporting the community meals program, Brown also encouraged people to support their local food pantries.
Monetary donations, she said, help the program more flexibly meet its needs.
Separately, she suggested offering shelf-stable snacks in addition to candy on Halloween to help neighbors who may be in need.
