Lack of access to nutritious food is a real problem in Kentucky, especially among our older adults.

Feeding America says that Kentucky has the fourth highest rate of food insecurity among adults aged 50 to 59 in the nation.

Mills on Wings is a program out of UConn's campus Kitchen working to bring healthy meals to Lexington's older adults.

But the food comes from an unlikely source leftovers from restaurants, campus cafeterias and even U.K. Chandler Hospital.

So right now, we are preparing meals for senior citizens around Lexington.

And that includes chicken that we've recovered.

Mustard greens, corn and strawberries and apples.

There's a lot of food being wasted just because there's a surplus amount of food or it just doesn't fit the cosmetic or food safety.

Some of those are not necessarily safety in terms of actual food safety, but more of quality control.

Tonight, we have a pioneer recovery and we get like majority of breads and our pastries from them that we use.

Yesterday, we had hospital recovery where we got majority of our meats and vegetables.

We also cannot control what type of food come into our operations, because obviously any food that we can rescue for and divert it from being wasted, we're going to try to do our best if we got lasagna from hospital.

We're not just giving lasagna only as a meal, but actually adding other veggies or side dishes.

Students here will come up with the menu and try to think of the best way to utilize all the ingredients before they go back, but also kind of making it balanced enough.

After 2 hours or so, we deliver the meals the students go in and we don't just drop it off.

We actually built one on one relationship with all of the people we are serving.

What is really unique is that that 55 to 59, even though we won't really call it older adults or seniors, yet they are the the type of populations that may already be having some sort of disability or have to retire earlier and yet still do not get any federal or state assistance.

Meals on Wheels is one of those national program, but it is for older adults, 60 and up.

I think it's important because a lot of seniors who live on living in income rooms really don't have the option sometimes.

Groceries are just expensive these days and, you know, you do the best you can, but, you know, when you have to choose between quantity and quality and quantity, oftentimes quantity wins out.

We don't believe this is by all means the primary solution to older adult food insecurity or food waste even.

But we do think that it is a piece of the puzzle.

It's not meant to be a fix.

It's meant to be a stopgap or an and and it works.

Meals on Wings is a program out of the University of North Florida that has expanded to only two other colleges in the country.

Lemon College and New York and the University of Kentucky.