The small increase, combined with a looming surge in the senior population, means area senior agencies might have to start reducing the number of clients they can serve, said Paul Downey, president of Senior Community Centers of San Diego.

Downey's agency, along with Catholic Charities, Jewish Family Services, St. Jude's Catholic Church in Southcrest, the Salvation Army and senior centers in Poway, Ramona and Clairemont, has created the Seniors in Crisis Coalition.

The group is launching a letter-writing campaign to raise awareness at the federal level. Its main target is U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Escondido, who sits on the Appropriations Committee.

"The more people we can get involved in this effort, the more likely the people in Washington will start to hear us," Downey said. "There is power in numbers."

It's unknown at this point how the funding picture in Washington, D.C., might affect local agencies in terms of dollars and cents, Downey said. But anything that does not keep pace with inflation means a de facto reduction in funding, he said.

If anything, Congress ought to be beefing up funding to prepare for growth in the senior population as baby boomers age, Downey said.

According to the latest Census forecasts, the county's senior population will grow by 56 percent by 2030, while the total population will increase by just 23 percent. Today, 11 percent of county residents are 65 or older. By 2030, that number is projected at 20 percent.

Downey's organization is on pace to serve nearly 300,000 meals to low-income seniors this fiscal year.

Today, the coalition is scheduled to hold a news conference at St. Jude's to outline the problem. It will symbolically serve a meal to every other senior at the regular noon meal to demonstrate the potential harm if the funding gap continues.

Marvel Farr, 84, lives in a federally subsidized apartment in downtown San Diego. She eats lunch at Senior Community Centers three times a week, on bingo days.

Farr, who lives on a $700 monthly Social Security check, said she has few options. The federal Section 8 housing program keeps her rent payments at 30 percent of her income. The meals at the community center are free, yet she makes a point of donating about $30 a month.

"I'd probably live on the street if it weren't for this," Farr said.

Cunningham said through a spokeswoman that Congress faces a difficult budget this year, but he is open to hearing the coalition's concerns.

Catholic Charities, which serves meals to low-income seniors and operates three senior low-income housing developments in the county, helps about 2,000 people a year.

"Our seniors are reaching the breaking point," said Sister Raymonda Duvall, Catholic Charities' executive director.

Jewish Family Services feeds more than 100 seniors a day, said Jill Spitzer, the organization's executive director. It also runs four senior centers in the county and has a program that helps seniors live in their own homes independently.

But funding levels have not kept up with cost-of-living increases in recent years, making that job more difficult, Spitzer said.