The recent expiration of COVID-era federal funding has senior citizen center directors across the state paying extra close attention to what remains of their budgets for the current fiscal year, and is causing serious concerns regarding the continuation of vitally important meal programs for those in need.
Corbin Senior Citizen Center Director Amber Case has shared with the News Journal details of a letter that was sent out by Victoria Eldridge, Commissioner of the Department for Aging and Independent Living within the state’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The letter, which was dated Sept. 8, is addressed to Area Development District Directors and Area Agency on Aging and Independent Living Directors. The subject line reads, “Senior Nutrition Program.”
“The record-setting funding for this program expansion was supported by one-time federal COVID-19 dollars that expire on Sept. 30, 2025, as well as an additional budget request awarded in the enacted 2024-2026 state biennial budget,” Eldridge explains in the letter. “Due to reduced federal funding and other recent federal policy changes, fewer dollars will be available and more responsibility will be shifted to states. As a result of this reduction in funding, the financial allocations your agency received on June 30, 2025, to operate the senior meal program will be the only federal and state funding available to your agency this state fiscal year.”
The letter goes on to outline suggested action steps that Area Development Districts could take in order to maximize the effectiveness of funds remaining in current budgets. Those steps include: Prioritizing feeding older adults with the highest level of nutritional needs, taking necessary steps to minimize food waste, and reducing or stopping drive-thru meal services, among others.
The Cumberland Valley Area Development District (CVADD) is the Area Development District that serves our local region, but attempts to reach a representative for comments were not successful as of press time Tuesday.
As for how things are being handled in Corbin, Case said that anyone showing up to the Senior Citizen Center, located at 409 Barbourville St., will not be turned away and will be served a meal as long as food is available. As for the center’s meal deliveries to individuals’ homes, she said that anyone looking to get added to that list will have to be placed on a waitlist. Once on the waitlist, there is no guarantee right now how quickly meals can begin getting delivered, or if they will be able to deliver them at all at any point in the near future.
Still, Case encourages those in need to continue calling, and to get added onto the waitlist. By adding names to the waitlist, she is hopeful that state officials will see that there is definitely a need for these feeding programs, and that steps will be taken to secure the funding necessary for them to continue.
Beth Baird, Director of the Senior Citizens of Whitley County Center in Williamsburg, is also attempting to navigate this difficult situation.
“The budget cuts have affected the Senior Citizens of Whitley County just as it has all the other centers across the state,” Baird said. “We are having to make changes, but ultimately, the Senior Citizens of Whitley County and its board members are committed and are working diligently to continue providing meals to the senior citizens within our community, and will continue to serve all of those that we possibly can for as long as we can.”
Baird said that if anyone would like to donate money or food items to help provide meals to the Senior Citizens of Whitley County, please call (606) 549-5600. Case encouraged those able to help to do the same in Corbin by calling (606) 528-0100.
“We knew that one day the COVID money would be gone, but we didn’t know when,” Case said. “Then it was just like, boom… gone.”
Case said that she hopes that the issue of adequately funding senior citizen feeding programs will be on the list of priority topics to be discussed by legislators in Frankfort during the upcoming 2026 meeting of the Kentucky General Assembly.
