Supporters of a community internet program worry their virtual lifeline will disappear if funding falls through.

The federal government announced Monday it was cutting a number of federal programs and grants to save $1 billion.

Since then, the people who run Community Access Program (CAP) sites fear the 11-year-old program is on the chopping block.

Mattie McClelland, 76, wonders what she'll do if she no longer has free access to the computer she uses to chat with other widows.

Her husband of 56 years died three years ago.

"A friend of mine found a website called widownet, and I found others were feeling the same way as I was," McClelland said. "It helped a lot."

Through the CAP site at the Sackville Senior Advisory Council, she has learned everything from how to turn on a computer to how to use a webcam.

While much of the attention has been around CAP sites in rural communities, Noreen Richard, chair of the Halifax Regional CAP Association, says no one should forget users in the city.

"You're talking about thousands and thousands of people who may be affected," Richard said. "The hardest hit, again, are the poorest of the poor in the community."

CAP organizers say federal funding has already dwindled through the years from about $5,000 per site a few years ago to $2,000 last year.

Nova Scotia's economic development minister, Richard Hurlburt, says he has asked his staff to study options for funding the 279 CAP sites across the province.