The Pennyrile Area Development District and Pennyrile Allied Community Services have announced a revised plan of action so they can continue to provide home delivered meals to those who need them.
This move comes after a state funding shortfall of nearly $1.5 million, heaving impacting the program, and officials were concerned that their client list would be greatly reduced. Over 750 seniors currently receive home-delivered meals, and now thanks to some creative reconstructing, they can keep getting served for at least the next seven weeks.
According to PeADD, the home delivered meals program will transition to a three-day-per-week delivery schedule. This week, meals will be delivered on Monday, Tuesday and Friday, and then starting the week of October 6, meals will be delivered on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
That’s thanks to the use of supplemental ‘other’ funds contributed jointly by PeADD and PACS, and means the program will be ale to serve the entire current client list for the next seven weeks. Officials say, at the end of those seven-weeks, if a funding solution is not identified, the program will then be required to transition to a reduced client list. If that happened, the reduced listen would in place for the remainder of the year.
PeADD Executive Director Jason Vincent says, “We are grateful to be able to temporarily maintain service to all of our meal recipients. This plan buys us some time, but without restored funding, many of our seniors will still face the reality of losing access to this essential program. We sincerely thank the PeADD and PACS Boards for their leadership and commitment to ensure the continuation of services during this critical time.”