Loretta Bachman, of Butler, cuts and prepares zucchini Thursday afternoon, July 27, at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Butler. The vegetables will be served at a community dinner. Shane Potter/Butler Eagle

The line outside of St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church is starting to swell as residents from all over Butler eagerly await for the doors to open. Even in the early evening, the heat has not relented as patrons try to find shade under one of the archways that have the words “Keep innocency and hold fast” etched in the stone.

The closer it gets to 5 p.m. Thursday, July 20, more people gather outside the church, waiting for the weekly community dinner at Katie's Kitchen. There seems to be familiarity among the patrons as they welcome each other with kind words and banter.

The chatter starts to dwindle as the sense of anticipation is replaced with an almost agitated state of hunger. Families with children are ushered to the front of the line, an act of chivalry that allows them not only quicker access to the meals, but gets them in a shaded area while they wait.

Loretta Bachman, center, brings out meals for people Thursday, July 20, at Katie’s Kitchen at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Butler. The nonprofit provides meals for those in need. Justin Guido/Butler Eagle

The doors open, and after a short prayer delivered by volunteers, the conveyor belt of serving begins.

“Honestly, we have so many new people,” said Loretta Bachman, a volunteer at Katie’s Kitchen since 1994. “I’ve never seen this many people”

Katie’s Kitchen is one of several nonprofits that offers free and nutritional meals to the community each week. Churches, within a few miles from one another, have programs that are designed to provide meals to those in need.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, as the number of people experiencing food insecurity increased, additional federal SNAP emergency food allotments were added. The allotment to combat food insecurity and provide economic stimulus ended in February.

Justine Brown, manager of Katie’s Kitchen, has seen the number of people attending the weekly community kitchen increase drastically since the ending of the SNAP allotments. This time last year, Katie’s Kitchen was serving around 80 to 100 meals each week. Now, its more than 100 additional meals weekly.

“March (the lines of people) started to get big,” Brown said. “But in April, May and June, during the third and fourth week of the month, we were seeing around 240 or 245.”

The timing of the supplemental food payments also has caused a hardship. The additional COVID SNAP benefits were distributed twice monthly. Now, recipients receive benefits only once, at the beginning of the month.

Michael Fischer receives meals July 20 from Katie’s Kitchen at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Butler. Justin Guido/ Butler Eagle

Michael Fischer takes cares of his mother who suffered an aneurysm and is still awaiting disability after two years. When the insurance company stopped paying her settlements, he said she had to rely on Social Security.

Fischer is frustrated with the fluctuating and sometimes prohibitive process that comes with qualifying for SNAP benefits and other programs.

“The process is incredibly complicated,” Fisher said. “I had to get like 23 different pieces of paper just to get my mom set up with a home health care aide.”

He said that the ending of the additional benefits have left the “working poor hurting.”

“It’s hurting a lot of people,” Fischer said. “With inflation and everything else, the last thing they should be doing is lower the (amount of SNAP benefits) with the rising prices. The few times I do make it Walmart with what little money I come across, it doesn’t go anywhere near as far as it used to. I mean you’re maybe getting a fourth of the food. It’s like triple inflation, in a sense.”

Katie’s Kitchen is feeling the residual effects since the extra benefits ended.

“It affects what we make,” Brown said. “It affects what we have time to make. It’s one thing making hamburgers for 80 people, but making them for 240 people, it becomes time-consuming.”

Edward Wood is among the new faces attending Katie Kitchen’s weekly meal. Wood, who is an out-of-work roofer due to respiratory infection, says he does not qualify for SNAP benefits.

John Pugliese, of Butler, starts the microwave as he and other volunteers prepare food Thursday afternoon, July 27, at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church that will be served at a community dinner. Shane Potter/Butler Eagle

“I was rejected,” Wood said. “I was told I make too much, but when I did my taxes, they told me I was poor. Well, pick one.”

Brown and her nearly 25 volunteers try to operate Katie’s Kitchen with efficiency. Brown, who oversees the operation, uses her years of experience as a home-economics teacher to keep a steady hand as the nonprofit community dinner center tries to navigate the increase in meals.

“We knew things were going to increase, given the fact the money that they were getting from the state is less,” Brown said. “We didn’t realize how much it was going to be.”

Katie’s Kitchen gets donations from Panera, Butler Farm Market and St. Vincent de Paul, as well as other local businesses that supply the food for the meals.

Brown does not see running out of food due to increase requests as an issue.

“Katie’s Kitchen has been more than blessed with donations,” Brown said. “Monetary donations and donations of food.”

Kara Miller, a regular at Katie’s Kitchen is awaiting disability benefits. Once a cross-country truck driver, she said she is unable to drive anymore due to a number of heart attacks she has had.

“I’m fighting the government for it,” Miller said of the benefits. “They say I’m young enough to work. I paid taxes in 16 different states because of fuel taxes. I paid taxes, and now that I’m in need, nobody wants to do nothing about it.”

Miller said she is not receiving SNAP benefits.

“Sometimes, I have to actually go without medication,” Miller said. “I have to choose between food and medicine.”

Bachman, who has seen the ups and downs of food insecurity in Butler during her nearly three decades of volunteering at Katie’s Kitchen, knows it can be emotionally trying.

“It can get sad,” Bachman said. “They’re always together when they come in. They’re like family, too. They’re family to each other as well.”

Wood said he feels isolated. His appreciation for the volunteers is mixed with his anger of desperation.

“Only churches care,” Wood said. “The people of God are the only ones that care about us.”

A volunteer helps out Thursday, July 20, at Katie’s Kitchen. The nonprofit provides meals for those in need and is based at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 201 W. Jefferson St. Justin Guido/Butler Eagle

Nonprofit Katie’s Kitchen, based at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Butler, provides meals for those in need. Justin Guido/ Butler Eagle

Loretta Bachman talks Thursday, July 20, about being a volunteer at Katie’s Kitchen since it started in 1994 at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Butler. Justin Guido/Butler Eagle

Shawna Conley picks up meals Thursday, July 20, at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Butler from volunteers with Katie’s Kitchen, a nonprofit which provides food for those in need. Justin Guido/Butler Eagle

Raylene Jindra, of Meridian, along with other volunteers prepare food Thursday afternoon, July 27, at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church that will be served at a community dinner. Shane Potter/Butler Eagle

Lisa Rosanbalm, of Fort Collins, Colo., left, and her mother, Linda Croft, of Butler, prepare desserts Thursday afternoon, July 27, at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Butler that will be served at a community dinner. Shane Potter/Butler Eagle

Jane Stockburger, of Butler, along with other volunteers prepare food Thursday afternoon, July 27, at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Butler that will be served at a community dinner. Shane Potter/Butler Eagle

Raylene Jindra, of Meridian, left, and Jane Stockburger, of Butler, mix some of the food Thursday afternoon, July 27, at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Butler that will be served at a community dinner. Shane Potter/Butler Eagle