Community members in the Butler area are facing hardships as the winter season begins. With the uncertainty of food stamps and other programs, the biggest fear for Butler’s residents isn’t just the cold and icy roads. However, a community-centered group looks to tackle food insecurity.
The Community Meal Ministry (CMM) in Butler, Pa. is a church collective operating in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Butler. The CMM offers free, homemade meals Mondays through Fridays to community members in need. The collective is located at 201 W. Jefferson Street, beside the First Baptist Christian School. Besides offering warm food, the CMM provides ministry and volunteer opportunities to the Butler area.
The CMM was formed during COVID-19, at the height of food insecurities. The Ministry remained open post-lockdown and currently hosts around 400 attendees a night. Last month they held a successful “Souper Bowl” fundraiser where the Butler Art Center and Gallery sold handcrafted bowls and the CMM offered fresh soup.
The English 205 class at SRU, Introduction to Professional Writing, has had the chance to work with Community Meal Ministries and help create advertisements and other professional material for the collective. Elizabeth Geib, Assistant Professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Writing at SRU, the Director of SRU Writing Center, and current professor of English 205, sat down to discuss how she got in contact with CMM and some of the elements her class is working on.
“I had been working with Josette (Dau) at the SRU, and she actually works for the Center for Community Engagement, which is a relatively new center…opened about a year ago and, because I worked so closely with Josette, she introduced me to CMM (Community Meal Ministry) and we setup a meeting over summer and they were just the sweetest ladies. And we talked through what worked in class, editing for them would look like,” Geib said.
Geib gave some more insight into how the Community Meal Ministry opened, and how COVID-19’s insecurities brought forth this project.
“It was formed during COVID when there was a lot of people needing food, right? It was a very scary, unknown time, especially for already hard-up families…so essentially, the CMM came together to solve this problem and lives on now,” Geib said.
The English 205 class is broken into groups, each centered on their own aspect of professional advertisement. Geib explained how one project group is “a brochure group.” This brochure group will focus on creating a professional handout or pamphlet that properly illustrates the CMM’s task, members’ information and upcoming events.
“[The brochures] will be used to be handed out to different organizations, donors, whatever it may be. It’ll explain any kinds of events coming up and spread awareness in a physical way,” Geib said.
The second group of the English 205 class is focused on the CMM’s website. The website currently lacks information on events and proper donation routes, and overall is slow to load and run.
“[W]hile the website, it does exist, but it’s just clunky with no straightforward way for donations,” Geib said.
The group aims to create an optimized interface that clearly displays event updates and has a proper donation portal.
The last group is focused on marketing; their plan is to get in touch with local new sources and social media groups to spread awareness for the CMM. This group will also analyze where advertisements are lacking and what groups are not being reached.
“And then group number 3 is our marketing group, and they are focused on, ‘what are we not covering?’ So, they are reaching out to news stations trying to get information out,” Geib said.
Geib discusses the importance of this project, and how she looks forward to working with CMM again.
“I hope I can work with CMM in the future…I really want [the project] to be focused on the students and how they can help CMM and support them,” Geib said.
The CMM is currently preparing to host a free Christmas Dinner, delivery and takeout only, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Christmas night. They are taking reservation calls until Dec. 22 at 724-287-0454. The event is open to all.
