The Pennsylvania lottery really does help older Pennsylvanians.

On Monday, the Carbon County Commissioners announced that a portion of $50 million in state lottery money released to counties will help the county expand the In home/Non-Congregate Meals program in Lehighton, Jim Thorpe and Palmerton.The money will also be used to address growing waiting lists in the senior programs, provide additional services to area senior citizens and allow for two additional temporary positions in the Office of Area Agency on Aging in Palmerton.The county received $225,000 through the state to expand its Options program and home-delivered meal program.Commissioner William O'Gurek said the county currently serves approximately 120 people in Lehighton, Jim Thorpe and Palmerton. The increase in funds will allow for an additional 65 residents in those areas to be served."I think when you think about the seniors in their homes not having food, this expansion is the right thing," he said. "People work their whole lives and get to retirement age and there are programs out there to benefit them so part of our job as a county is to deliver services. If we can do that, then I think we are meeting our responsibility.""That (the additional money) will do a whole bunch of things," O'Gurek continued, adding that it will also include improving protective services for senior citizens, adult day care and personal care services and cut down on the backlog of applicants and cases for services.Cheri Santore, director of the Area Agency on Aging, said that the Options program would also provide additional support of in-home services as well as winter preparedness packs for existing Options, In Home/Non-Congregate Meal and Protective Services consumers and family caregivers. Packs include a number of life-saving items such as emergency Mylar blankets, first aid kit, can opener, hygiene kits, radio, flashlights and batteries and more."This is the second fiscal year in a row that Gov. Corbett budgeted $50 million to the Pennsylvania Department of Aging to address waiting lists across the state," Santore said, adding that the funding will help purchase new laptops, phones and any equipment needed to support the services."It is our intent to serve an additional 140 consumers in all service categories," she said.As part of the added funds, the county salary board approved the establishment of a limited term aging care manager II and limited term aging case aide II, who will be employed through June 30, with the possibility of extensions in the future. The manager position will be paid $14.35 per hour and the aide will receive $11.26 per hour.The positions are in effect until June 30 because the commissioners do not want to fund the positions unless they receive additional state funding in the next fiscal year, O'Gurek said."We will wait to see what Gov. Wolf and the legislature does with the funding to see if the positions will continue beyond June 30," O'Gurek said, adding that if no additional funding is distributed to the counties then the positions will just end on their termination date."We would like to see them extended," Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein said. "It's a growing, aging population and they (Area Agency on Aging) are extremely busy. We're hoping the funding will come through on July 1 so we can extend the positions."