(Butler, PA) Alone, Erin Conliffe will play her favorite Christmas carols on her laptop computer because, she said, she can’t afford cable or a streaming service to watch Thanksgiving parades or specials on television.

Alone, with “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “O Holy Night” or the “Carol of the Bells” in the background, the Butler County Community College student will begin to prepare her holiday meal.

Alone, the 34-year-old Butler resident will carry her dinner of corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and turkey to the white particleboard desktop she uses to study to become a website developer.

“I don’t have a dining room table,” she said.

Alone – “I can’t afford to go to travel to be with my family. It’s hard to get around when you don’t have money for a car or transportation” – Conliffe will sit, fold her hands “and at least know I will have the comfort of participating in the holiday.

“It would be worse to be alone,” she said, “and not have access to a turkey and the other food.”

"The need is increasing. The cost of living is increasing. And our employees make sure that our students are aware of our resources." 

- Mikayla Moretti, interim executive director of the BC3 Education Foundation and external relations

Conliffe is among a record 78 low-income BC3 students who registered this fall to receive a Thanksgiving meal package from the college’s Pioneer Pantry and funded in part by Butler County nonprofit organizations.

The Pioneer Pantry provided 40 Thanksgiving meal packages in 2021, 45 in 2022 and 62 in 2023, according to Mikayla Moretti, a member of BC3’s 7-year-old food security team and interim executive director of the BC3 Education Foundation and external relations.

“The need is increasing,” Moretti said. “The cost of living is increasing. And our employees make sure that our students are aware of our resources.”

The pantry debuted in September 2019 on BC3’s main campus in Butler Township and served 341 individuals through June 30, 2020, according to Moretti. It assisted 910 individuals in 2023-2024 and is expected to help approximately 1,000 in 2024-2025.

“Food insecurity does impact learning and all those other important health and mental aspects of life,” said Juli Louttit, a member of the college’s food security team and BC3’s director of financial aid. “So if we can help that student, it then trickles into those other areas to make them more successful.”

Food insecurity, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is having reduced quality, variety or desirability of diet.

"Ever since COVID, there has been a big markup on everyday goods. Affording food, even with SNAP benefits, it's very difficult to get food on the table." 

- Erin Conliffe, BC3 student, Pioneer Pantry patron

The Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges reported in 2022 that nearly 50 percent of the state’s community college students come from families earning less than $30,000 a year and are considered to be of very low income.

Two of every three low-income BC3 students in 2023-2024 were also independent, according to their financial aid application.

Conliffe is one of them.

“Ever since COVID, there has been a big markup on everyday goods,” Conliffe said. “Affording food, even with SNAP benefits, it’s very difficult to get food on the table.”

The Pioneer Pantry’s Thanksgiving meal packages represent for low-income students “one less thing that they have to worry about for the holiday, especially with the cost of food,” said Valerie Fennell, of Butler, a BC3 business management student who works at the pantry.

56-year-old: “A blessing in and of itself”

Conliffe is in her second semester at BC3 and said the Thanksgiving meal package is “absolutely wonderful. It’s fantastic. It gives people hope. It means that you are not blocked off from being able to participate in such an important American holiday.”

Added a 56-year-old low-income BC3 student from New Castle who will share his Thanksgiving meal with a 30-year-old daughter from eastern Pennsylvania whom he has not seen in two years: “Having this holiday package is a blessing in and of itself. I would not have gone out and got a turkey and all the fixings if I were to spend Thanksgiving alone.

“Food insecurity is definitely something that is rough on anybody. The last thing that anyone wants to have on their mind is not having food, and nutritional food at that.”

The Butler County Bar Association Foundation contributed $3,000 to help fund purchases for the Thanksgiving meal packages and the Butler AM Rotary and the Rotary Club of Butler PM, $500 each, Moretti said.

“As the community’s college, we want to make sure our students are taken care of, not just in their education, but also in helping with their basic needs,” Moretti said. “And the community really supports that.”

"Students are very, very thankful, grateful and happy that BC3 is doing this." 

- Dr. Jill Rend, director, BC3 @ Brockway

Mom, 29: “This is a blessing”

Meal packages were distributed to Pioneer Pantry patrons Nov. 13 and Nov. 14 on BC3’s main campus. Forty-two were delivered to BC3 @ Brockway, the college’s additional location in Jefferson County that also serves students from Clarion, Clearfield and Elk counties.

The percentage of residents estimated to be in poverty in Butler County was 8.9 percent as of 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The poverty rate in Clarion, Clearfield, Elk and Jefferson counties ranged from 10 percent to 13.7 percent, according to the bureau.

“Students are very, very thankful, grateful and happy that BC3 is doing this,” said Dr. Jill Rend, BC3 @ Brockway director.

“Many of them drive a good distance to get here. They spend a lot of money on gasoline. They’re working, but they can’t work as much because they are attending classes. This Thanksgiving dinner package is helping them put their limited resources toward their education.”

A 29-year-old BC3 student, wife and mother of two children from Renfrew, said she would not have been able to provide a holiday meal for her family had it not been for the Pioneer Pantry.

“It wouldn’t have really been a Thanksgiving,” she said. “I would be looking for something just for my kids with whatever money we have. Probably chicken and fries. They love that. I would have tried to make the most of it for them. This is a blessing.”

“I actually might have the resources to be able to give back”

Conliffe expects to graduate from BC3 next summer with an associate degree in computer information systems-website development specialist, pursue a position in the field and remain in Butler County.

“The hope,” Conliffe said, “is that I will no longer be of low income. I imagine that would be easier and more pleasant. Absolutely less stressful. And if I am in a better position myself, then that means I actually have the resources to be able to give back.”

BC3’s Pioneer Pantry will also prepare a record 85 holiday meal packages for the college’s monthlong winter break.

Students who register with the pantry will receive a fresh ham, canned corn, yams, pineapple slices and green beans, boxed mashed potatoes, gravy packets, produce and sugar cookie mix, according to Moretti. Vintage Coffeehouse, Butler, will allocate $1 for each specialty coffee sold Dec. 3 toward BC3’s holiday meal packages, Moretti said.

BC3 was recognized as a Hunger-Free Campus by the state Department of Education in 2022.