FRANKFORT, Ky. (August 28, 2024) - At the annual Governor’s Local Issues Conference, Rocky Adkins, Senior Advisor to Gov. Andy Beshear, presented the Gateway Area Development District (ADD) with the Peggy Satterly Spirit of Kentucky Award. The award is given each year in honor of a project that is the result of multiple government agencies working together in a cost-effective manner. Adkins recognized the Gateway ADD for their work on expanding the Gateway Regional Kitchen and Menifee County Senior Center.
“This project exemplifies teamwork and community leaders looking out for our people,” said Rocky Adkins. “This regional kitchen serves meals to senior citizens across five counties. This facility, and these local leaders, stepped up to ensure that our most vulnerable people are being cared for and that we are leaving nobody behind.”
“The project was a collaborative effort between state and local governments – and a responsible use of public dollars to invest in our aging population,” said Joshua Farrow, executive director of the Gateway ADD. “We are grateful for the opportunity to expand our senior center services within the Gateway region. We have worked diligently since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, under the directive of Governor Andy Beshear, to ensure that all individuals over the age of 60 receive a meal if requested. I want to thank our staff for their hard work and vision and our Board of Directors for their support and leadership. Without them, the Senior Center’s Division growth and innovative new programs would not be possible.”
The Gateway region is comprised of Bath, Menifee, Montgomery, Morgan and Rowan Counties. In 2015, the Menifee County Fiscal Court partnered with the Gateway ADD and local leaders across the five-county region to construct the Gateway Regional Kitchen and Menifee County Senior Center. Doors opened on the facility in 2016. The original project included funding from the Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG), Appalachian Regional Commission, Coal Severance and local funds. This gave the Gateway region a new central kitchen to serve congregate and home-delivered meals across the entire region.
In 2021, during the pandemic, the Menifee County Fiscal Court submitted a grant application for the CDBG-Coronavirus Relief (CDBG-CV) program to expand the kitchen and senior center. $1,059,593 in Expanded Senior Meal funding administered by the Kentucky Department for Aging and Independent Living was used to purchase equipment and provided programmatic funding. $946,000 in CDBG-CV funds were used for construction costs.
This expansion made it possible for the Gateway ADD to serve congregate and home-delivered meals to an additional 860 senior citizens, a 184% increase from Fiscal Year 22 to Fiscal Year 23. In the past two fiscal years, the Gateway ADD has provided over 250,000 meals to more than 2,400 participants. 207,000 of these meals were prepared at the Gateway Regional Kitchen.
About Peggy Satterly
Peggy Satterly served Kentucky for 48 years, working for 11 Governor’s administrations. During her career, she worked at the Department for Local Government, serving for 20 years as Kentucky’s program manager for the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Information on Kentucky’s Department for Local Government can be found here.
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For official news and updates from the Beshear/Coleman administration, visit governor.ky.gov/news