The Butler Chapter of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is always in need of food and financial donations for its food bank, but the need is greater now due to the novel coronavirus 2019.

With the closing of its thrift store that generates most of the money used to buy food from the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank and the closing of churches, another source of food-buying money, the outlook for the future of the food bank has Jerry Harrison, society president, scared.

The food bank served 547 families last month and anticipates serving 750 families this month, he said.

“I'm just scared to death what next month will look like,” Harrison said. “We need help. We need money and food.”

The thrift store is closing after business hours Tuesday and churches are also closing, he said.

“The thrift store in the Greater Butler Mart is responsible for 80 percent of our income — 80 percent of our ability to go out and buy food, products, fruit, vegetables, canned goods. That's our largest generator of money to do what we do,” Harrison said.

People can bring food donations to the food bank. Money donations can be mailed to the society at 146 N. Monroe St., Butler, PA 16001.

The society has created a Facebook page to let people know about the crisis and a GoFundMe account will be opened Thursday for people wishing to make donations online, he said.

“We're reaching out to the public and asking for help. We're doing everything in our power to keep the food bank open. The people of Butler rely heavily on this food and we need to be there,” Harrison said.

Even though the store is closed, staff will continue picking up clothing from donation boxes scattered throughout the county, he said.

In addition to food and money, donations of cleaning supplies are also need, Harrison said.