Many and varied individuals lead programs in the county that feed the hungry through shelf-stable food distributions, community meals and other programs.

And they all have one thing in common: No policies, practices, legislation or anything else will prevent them from ensuring their neighbors in need are fed.

One piece of federal legislation that might force more families to seek their help is the elimination of additional Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, that were initiated during the coronavirus pandemic.

SNAP recipients received a minimum of $95 in additional food assistance during the pandemic. The last emergency allotment will be this month, according to the state Department of Human Services.

The department in a recent news release recommended that SNAP recipients who continue to struggle with feeding their family in March and beyond contact the local food bank to supplement their household food supply.

Butler food banks and community meals providers have already seen an increase in families requesting food, but are confident they will be able to continue their programs when the SNAP emergency allotment ends.

“We will do everything we can to make sure that someone who is hungry eats in Butler County,” said Sandy Curry, executive director at Community Partnership, which oversees the Butler County Food Bank. “You have my word.”

Major Darlene Means of the Butler Salvation Army said the daytime community meals served at the facility on West Cunningham Street will continue, regardless of the SNAP changes.

She said the Pittsburgh Salvation Army received a grant to be distributed to area Salvation Army units that have a community meal program.

“We’ll just purchase more food and cook more food,” Means said. “We have the funds if we get an increase (in patrons). We’re not going to have a problem providing a meal.”

She said meals are now served from 11 a.m. to noon Monday, Wednesday and Friday on an eat-in or takeout basis.

Means hopes to hire another cook to provide daily lunchtime meals to people in need.

The Butler Salvation Army also distributes monthly food boxes to eligible clients, and Means hopes to add a gift card to upcoming boxes due to the recent price increases of several staple items.

The SNAP situation, Means said, might cause more seniors to access food programs because Social Security payments were recently increased, which made some seniors ineligible for the SNAP program.

“If anybody needs help, they can give us a call here,” Means said.

The Butler Salvation Army can be reached at 724-287-5532.

Evening meals for people in need also are available Monday through Friday at various churches in downtown Butler.

Justine Brown, manager at Katie’s Kitchen, said meals will continue to be prepared at St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church on West Jefferson Street regardless of the SNAP changes.

Brown also reported an uptick in the number of meals served at Katie’s Kitchen, as well as in the number of people who take a bag of nonperishable food with them after the meal.

While Katie’s Kitchen had been distributing eight to 10 bags after each weekly meal, they are now giving out 10 to 20 bags.

Brown said Katie’s Kitchen served 97 meals per week from October 2020 to October 2021. There were 149 meals per week served between October 2022 and January 2023.

“The number of meals we have been serving per week has dramatically increased, so this elimination of SNAP benefits is going to be really, really hard on all the community meals,” Brown said.

She said many elderly and disabled people live in downtown Butler, and those demographics can frequently be seen partaking of the community meals each evening.

Others come to the church that is serving the free meal and ask for a takeout meal for a homebound neighbor.

“We are really meeting those needs for people who are elderly or disabled and can’t get out and get their meals,” Brown said.

While Katie’s Kitchen receives donations from Butler Farm Market and Panera Bread, Brown said she plans to reach out to Walmart and Giant Eagle if need increases in March.

“Especially any produce we might be able to use,” Brown said.

She said the mission of Katie’s Kitchen is to feed the hungry in any way possible.

“We are there to give them what they physically need, and hopefully we do it with a kind word and a smile and bring them a little bit of hope in the course of their day,” Brown said. “All meals in the city are faith-based, so we bring a little bit of Christ’s love, and we let them know they are worth something and they are appreciated.”

Curry said the Butler County Food Bank also has seen an increase in need. She said a recent quarterly report shows the county food bank provided food for 8,000 people in the 28 food pantries they supply.

That’s up from about 3,000 people in the same quarter one year ago.

“I think a lot of it is inflation,” said Curry of Community Partnership.

She said expenses like gas, utilities and groceries are stressing the budgets of people in the lower economic categories.

“People who are living sort of on the edge are not seeing an increase in their wages,” Curry said. “They are going to have issues.”

She said the county food bank receives cases of food from three government programs.

The food is combined and sorted, and then distributed to the county’s 28 food banks.

Curry said the amount of food the county food bank can receive is limited because the 3,000-square-foot storage facility at the Sunnyview complex in Butler is insufficient.

“We need a bigger food bank,” she said. “We are out of space. This is a conversation we’ve been having for the past couple years.”

Curry said she is in talks with the county commissioners on getting a larger space.

“We are going to take as much food as we can,” she said. “We’ve already started ordering more because we’ve seen the numbers go up at some of our pantries.”

The county food bank also packs food boxes for senior citizens in a program that provides support for low and very low income residents age 60 or older.

She said 18 food pantries in the county get senior food boxes to distribute to eligible seniors in their communities.

Last year, county food bank volunteers packed about 175 senior boxes per month.

Now, they pack about 220 per month.

“A lot of pandemic assistance programs are going away, but I think with inflation, food costs are not going to go down because producer costs are up,” Curry said.

According to Curry and other program leaders, food assistance for families who need it will be there.