Arkansas Senior Olympics says $70,000 state sub-grant will not be renewed; lawmaker seeks answers

Organizers of the Arkansas Senior Olympics said this week they will not receive a $70,000 sub-grant from the Arkansas Department of Human Services that they had expected for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

"And now I've been hit with, I'm not getting any money," said Greg Ebbert of the Arkansas Senior Olympics, describing a termination letter he said he received on June 11. Ebbert told THV 11 that the group relies on the sub-grant to stage qualifying events this summer and that many athletes and volunteers had already made hotel and travel plans.

Representative Ashley Hudson said she has been pressing state officials for an explanation. "It just seems so wrong to be doing this, especially to our seniors at a time when we had hundreds of millions, millions of dollars to pay for a tax cut," Hudson said, urging state leaders to provide answers and restore funding where appropriate.

Tanya Motorzitsky, reporting for THV 11, said the organization had been told the money would not be renewed and that the loss creates a shortfall just before the organization's events, which begin in late August. Motorzitsky said the station reached out to the Department of Human Services on the holiday but had not received a response.

Organizers told the station they were relying on a $70,000 sub-grant to finalize their event budget. With the fiscal year beginning July 1 and major competitions planned later in the summer, Ebbert said the timing of the notification left organizers little time to raise replacement funds.

The report did not include a formal response from DHS. The story ends with organizers and Rep. Hudson seeking clarification from state leaders about why the approved funding appears to have been rescinded.