Dine in, carry out or home delivered one free meal a day has been guaranteed to Kentucky seniors that totaled more than 3 million meals in the past fiscal year.

But as our June Lefler reports, some funds have dried up and most senior centers will have to scale back.

These meal programs.

Copeland is the resident pianist at her local senior center.

Someone got me interested.

Why don't you come down to the center?

I absolutely love it.

The retired nurse is one of dozens enjoying lunch at the Elizabethtown Senior Center.

It's a very nutritious meal, and dessert is always included.

It's more than a meal, and we are busy every day doing different crafts.

We paint, we play bingo, and with bingo, there's prizes.

You know, we look forward to that.

We're like little kids here.

These senior centers are pervasive across the country.

The senior meal program was established in 1965 via the Older Americans Act, and that was a act that allowed funding across the United States to be able to assist our seniors, to be able to live at home and be independent.

It has a lot of variety of services under that program.

One of the largest ones, though, is the meal program.

And the meal program has both a congregate component which is in person dining, as well as a home delivered meal program, which means the meals actually go into the client's homes they've delivered there for people who maybe can't get out.

It was established because of two reasons hunger, insecurity, as well as the need for seniors to be able to get with other seniors.

You know, as you get older, you need to stay active and we do.

In Kentucky, local groups offer a meal a day to every person 60 or older who wants one, regardless of income.

But that is about to change.

You know, the directive was clear.

The funding has always been there, even when it looked like it wouldn't until now.

Federal Covid era relief money has expired.

That funding helped grow these meal programs over the years, even as the cost per meal doubled.

But meal providers say they were caught off guard when a state agency wrote this month that there would be no more state money either.

They have always said that, the money will be there, and to continue to provide the meals as needed.

And it always has been.

They've always kind.

They've always come through, with what they said they would until until this point.

Some area development district leaders say the state didn't advocate for adequate funding from the General Assembly.

Currently, we're about, a little less than $10 million short across the state.

And so regardless of the number, we would still have been sure.

But we've been a lot less short.

And, the data that we presented, certainly been considered or listened to.

The speaker of the House wrote, quote, unfortunately, the Department of Aging and Independent Living submitted flawed and outdated data that failed to reflect the true cost of services.

Despite direct requests from legislators to review and correct its numbers.

The cabinet for Health and Family Services insisted that $10 million would be sufficient for the senior meal program, ignoring warnings from area development districts that the program required at least $14.5 million.

This shortfall was entirely avoidable.

Now, most senior centers have to cut back.

Like Cumberland Valley, it's going to have to completely cut service at the end of this month or shortly thereafter.

On home, delivered meals are completely out of money.

Others are talking about maybe cutting back to like three days a week service and being able to serve subs at the level of meal, provide some level of service, to everyone that's currently receiving that list in a, in a limited capacity.

So it's going to be different in all 15 areas.

And it's going to be different in the in each program to, whether it be the congregate meals or the home delivery.

Governor Andy Beshear has warned less revenue is coming to state coffers due to some economic decline and an upcoming state income tax reduction.

At a time when we've got a budget deficit of $300 million, we're going to have to address in this budget, we're going to have significantly less usable dollars for a number of reasons.

In the next budget, we're going to have to be really cost conscious, and that's going to hit a lot of great programs.

Leadership in Kentucky's General Assembly have signaled they want senior meal programs to prosper.

They'll decide how much to fund these programs in next year's budget session.

These senior centers would get that new funding come next summer.

For Kentucky edition, I'm June Leffler.