Children and adults of all ages wait for their food basket, wondering whether it is going to get them through to the next week let alone the next month. They come from small towns throughout the Tug River Valley -- Delbarton, Matewan, Red Jacket and Varney, booming coal towns in the early 1900s. Now they are living memorials to a time that has passed.

They come from different backgrounds and situations -- a mother of two whose husband lost his job at a machine shop two years ago after the mines cut back, an elderly couple struggling to make ends meet on their $800 monthly Social Security check, a single man just trying to get by after he was disabled in a car accident.

They are all different, yet they share a common distinction: They are struggling to get by.

As the Environmental Protection Agency considers pulling or denying mountaintop mining permits in southern West Virginia, many living in areas already burdened by job cuts and a lack of stable income worry about their future.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared war on an enemy that was difficult to identify, yet so simple to find -- poverty.

Johnson was appalled by the deplorable living conditions of many of the country's citizens. When he took office in late 1963, the nation's poverty rate was 19 percent. One of the most concentrated pockets of long-term poverty in the country could be found in Appalachia.

President John. F. Kennedy said he was shocked at the living conditions he found in Appalachia during his 1960 campaign for the presidency. He was especially concerned about West Virginia after he spent much of his time in the state during the campaign.

After his assassination in 1963, his belief of creating a better America through social programs to benefit the poor carried over when Johnson moved into the Oval Office.

In his first State of the Union address on Jan. 8, 1964, Johnson declared a War on Poverty and its ill effects on the country as a whole. It helped form what would be Johnson's Great Society.

Now, 45 years later, poverty remains a problem in the United States and particularly West Virginia. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 17.1 percent of West Virginians lived in poverty in 2007, the most recent year available. The national average that year was 13.2 percent.

Those figures lead many to ask: What has happened to the idea that a nation's government is responsible for providing its citizens with the best life possible?

A Lasting Image

Despite efforts from government, poverty remains in West Virginia. In 1964, Johnson listed poor roads, lack of education, inadequate housing and lack of economic opportunities as the four main barriers holding down the country. Some say those problems still exist in the state.

When the late CBS reporter Charles Kuralt walked through the hollows of West Virginia during the Christmas of 1964, the rest of the world was presented with the harsh realities of poverty. Images of isolated, dirty-faced children walking to school on muddy, unpaved roads twisting along the spines of the mountains horrified the nation.

Housing was nothing more than one-room, tarpaper shacks with wood-burning stoves. Yards were littered with trash. Stories of food shortages, unemployment and hard times filled the television screen, creating stereotypes still shaping the entire state's image.

The Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965 authorized the federal government to build a highway system that would serve areas with development potential but inadequate access. West Virginia benefited with newly paved roads that provided access to its small mountain communities.

Education is Critical

The federal government established Head Start and Job Corps and other programs to provide West Virginians an opportunity to receive a quality basic education from preschool to college. Economists agree that education is the key to bettering the state's future.

According to Kent Sowards, research associate for the Center of Business and Economic Research at Marshall University, a long list of researchers have seen education as the key component to improving the overall economic welfare of a region. That is easier said than done.

"Waiting for the improvements (from education) has proven to be challenging for many areas, especially those who have witnessed large outmigrations of those better-educated workers (that) educational reforms have produced, seeking employment opportunities elsewhere," Sowards said.

Calvin A. Kent, vice president of business and economic research at Marshall University in Huntington, agreed with Sowards.

"The key is a better education at all levels, beginning with pre-K through graduate school," Kent said. "This is where the payoffs are, but the results are not immediate and therefore not as politically enticing as short-term programs."

Kent and Sowards agree the state's tax structure has a slightly negative impact on bringing in the type of high-tech jobs needed to boost the economy.

Kent said West Virginia is in a Catch 22 when it comes to taxation. State tax revenues support large programs such as Medicare and leaving few dollars to be used for infrastructure development. He said it also limits state officials' ability to reduce taxes.

"Taxes need to be reduced for job creation, but significant tax reductions reduce the ability of local and state governments to deal with the state's problems," Kent said.

Sowards echoed Kent's thoughts, saying the tax structure is an issue, but the demands placed on state government are great.

"Any effort to reduce tax burdens is always tempered in West Virginia by revenue neutrality and balanced budget requirements," Sowards said.

Not everyone agrees that economic factors are only contributors to poverty.

Poverty: A Complex Problem

Ronald Eller, a former West Virginia resident and Hallam Professor of History at the University of Kentucky, has spent more than 40 years writing and teaching about Appalachia. Eller's 2008 book, "Uneven Ground," examined economic and social issues that define poverty in the region.

Eller said the cause of poverty in West Virginia is complex. He said personal behavior plays a major factor, but it is not everything.

"Yes, people act inappropriately, but what is the root or true cause of that behavior is the question people should be asking," Eller said. "We tend to look at behavior or geographical issues, but, as a whole, we do not look at structural problems."

Eller said he sees a complex system of power, corruption, a single-industry economy and the industrial use of the environment as factors that contribute to poverty in West Virginia and the entire Appalachian region.

"There are the same assumptions in 1964 being made (today) as to why poverty exists and that there is nothing wrong with the system, (that) it is solely the actions of individuals or the problem of a lack of things," he said.

He said mainstream economic development cannot occur without diversified industrial sites.

Eller said there is a debate about what to do with economic development, which has been difficult for state lawmakers.

"Certain parts of the state have realized the expansion of small business, a focus on tourism and diversifying of industry is the key to a better economy, but in a region like the southern part of the state, where political connections to a single industry stifle that kind of development, it is contributing to keep poverty prevalent," Eller said.

While many other areas of Appalachia have seen declining poverty rates the past 45 years, West Virginia continues to have rates higher than the national average, according to the Census.

The numbers not only are staggering, but they also indicate economic stagnation, according to Sowards.

"West Virginia has historically seen larger amounts of personal income from transfer payments, such as retirement, disability, SSI, etc. ... and that the percentage is increasing, the implications of which are not just limited to the source of income, but also suggest lower productivity of the work force as a whole in addition to an aging population."

A West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy report released in September said 130,585 of the state's children, or 34.4 percent, live in poverty with numbers expected to climb as the country battles through the current recession. The same report said one of five West Virginia adults live in poverty.

"We determined that every time unemployment in the state climbs one percent, 8,000 kids enter poverty in West Virginia," said Paul Miller, policy analyst for the WVCBP.

Two West Virginia counties currently have two of the highest levels of childhood poverty in the nation, according to the Census' 2005 Small Area Income Poverty Estimates; McDowell County is 11th in the nation, tied with Coahoma County, Miss., as having 54.7 percent of children living in poverty. Webster County is currently 89th in the nation with 42.9 percent.

The Census lists West Virginia as having the second-lowest median household income in the nation at $37,057 in 2007. Mississippi has the lowest with $36,424. The Census defines the poverty threshold for a family of four at $22,025, revealing a large gap in what many people define as the working poor -- families not making enough money to sustain, but making too much for assistance.

How Poverty is Measured

Many experts said the federal Department of Health and Human Resources uses methods to establish poverty rates that have more value. The Census does not factor in living costs, housing costs, medical care and transportation. Instead, it calculates only income accumulated through such wages earned, unemployment compensation, workers' compensation, Social Security benefits and other programs.

In the mid-1960s, Molly Orshansky of the Social Security Administration developed poverty thresholds. Orshansky based her poverty thresholds on the "thrifty food plan," which was the cheapest of four food plans developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The food plan was "designed for temporary or emergency use when funds are low," according to the USDA. Based on the 1955 Household Food Consumption Survey from the USDA, Orshansky knew that families of three or more persons spent about one-third of their after-tax income on food. She then multiplied the cost of the USDA economy food plan by three to arrive at the minimal yearly income a family would need.

Using 1963 as a base year, she calculated that a family of four -- two adults and two children -- would spend $1,033 for food per year. Using her formula based on the 1955 survey, she arrived at $3,100 a year ($1,033 multiplied by three) as the poverty threshold for a family of four in 1963.

According to its Web site, the DHHR uses a similar model that takes in consideration the Census' poverty threshold but factors in inflation to arrive at a threshold to qualify for services.

Is There Hope?

Many experts such as Eller agree that social programs are underfunded to provide for the state's needy. According to Brooke Ash, assistant director of the Huntington Area Food Bank, recently allotted stimulus money has helped provide additional funds for food purchase. HAFB currently is helping to serve 91,000 residents throughout the southern region. But some are concerned about what will happen after the funds run out. Currently, America's Second Harvest estimates the HAFB will have to distribute 21 million pounds of food over the next year to meet needs.

"We are not seeing an increase in donations from the community as some donors are finding themselves in need," Ash said. "If the funds run out as need increases, we are really going to be in bad shape."

Wanda Lockard, director of the Operation Charity Food Bank in Matewan, agreed with Ash. Operation Charity is one of the food banks HAFB serves with USDA commodities.

"We received two grants this year from stimulus funds that allowed us to purchase more food from stores, but it just is not enough really to keep up with demand," Lockard said.

According to Lockard, Operation Charity was seeing 65 to 70 families on average per month, but in September the food bank served 100 families.

"We try to give away extra commodities if we have them cause we are trying to serve these people the best way we can with what we have," Lockard said.

While food banks are struggling along with those in need, Eller, Kent and Sowards agree that changes need made in the state's approach in developing new industry and economic opportunities. But they said West Virginians are better off today than they were in 1964.

Kent believes the answer to providing hope to the state's needy is to quit living in the past and assuming dinosaurs can be resurrected. He compared the state's current economic development strategy as "stealing someone else's wife." He said industries that respond to state-arranged inducements tend to be footloose and can leave for the next best offer.

"The world is going to high-tech service jobs, while major manufacturing is declining nationwide as a source of income and will continue to do so," Kent said.

Sowards said that diversification has been a major problem for other parts of the country and not just in West Virginia. He said the best thing for the state to do is to keep trying to develop new and fresh ideas.

"It really does take a long-term perspective to ensure that we focus on the right type of development, and the current administration is indeed moving us in that direction," Sowards said.

According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis that Sowards provided, West Virginians have seen a larger increase in per-capita income than the United States did as a whole between 1969 and 2008 despite raking just ahead of Mississippi in the per-capita income category.

With inflation adjusted, the West Virginia per-capita income was $7,608 in 1969, while the U.S. figure was $10,452.

In 2008, those figures were $14,696 and $18,675, equating to a 93.2 percent increase compared to 78.7 percent for the rest of the country.

Conditional Progress

Eller said progress such as the increase in per-capita income does indicate West Virginians are better off today than in 1964 as a whole, but he also noted the state has a long way to go.

"We have eliminated some of the extremes in poverty this state once witnessed through government transfer payments and social programs, but that does not mean people still are not suffering," Eller said.

"We still have a long way to go despite the fact it is not the same place as the 1960s, but we have not accomplished what needs to be accomplished quite yet."

Like Kent and Sowards, Eller said West Virginia can eliminate poverty by encouraging economic diversity and finding a way to tap into individual communities' strengths to develop an equitable exchange of goods and services between urban and rural communities.

"These communities' educational leaders, religious leaders, government leaders, business leaders all need to tap into the strength of the culture to convince people there is a brighter future by providing jobs for ourselves and find opportunities of their own communities," Eller said.

Eller added that hope for the state truly lies in taking responsibility for future decisions being made by community leaders that will effectively envision an economic alternative. He said that alternative lies in a sense of knowing what to preserve of the past rather than modeling futures after someone else's plan.

"Vision is critical, and without it progress will be difficult," Eller said.

Eller concluded the promise lies in hard work, but it is not unmanageable if everyone involved comes together for the same goal.

"There is no reason to believe these communities can't pull out of this," he said.

One 68-year-old Varney resident who wished not to be named does not share Eller's optimism.

Waiting for his basket at the local food bank, he pondered the question: "What is it going to take to bring hope into the area?"

His response is plain and simple: "It's hard to have hope living in a place that feels forgotten."

He somberly and slowly got into his 1991 Chevrolet Cavalier and handed his food basket to his waiting wife. He attempted to start the car three times before it finally rumbled and rolled off the lot. He gave a half-effort wave to another gentleman leaning on a telephone pole.

Like the many waiting in line and those throughout the state currently living in poverty or on the brink, he will be back next month - burdened in knowing the only stability in their lives is instability.