The Hard Times Never Left

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Johnson's War on Poverty, together with a growing economy, had a noticeable effect. By the 1970 Census, the national poverty rate had been cut by about one-third, with 12.6 percent of people deemed low-income. In Allegany County, it fell to 14 percent and declined even further by the next census.

For Brenda Teets's family, though, trouble lay ahead. Her mother left the family when Brenda was 3. Her father was laid off from the factory, and he would resort to hunting to put food on the table.

Yet her father told Brenda that she was smart and that she could reach beyond a life on the edge of poverty. She dreamed of going to college. Then in 1979, at age 16, Brenda had her first child.

For Allegany County it was the end of an era.

In the 1980s, the factories began shutting down. Celanese closed in 1983, a casualty of changing markets and a foreign buyout. The Kelly-Springfield and Pittsburgh Plate Glass plants followed when technology made their products obsolete.

By the end of the decade, poverty in the county would be back up to 16.5 percent

County leaders fought back hard. They attracted a vast state prison complex. There's a federal prison, too. Manufacturing still plays a role, though smaller. Then there are restaurant, hotel, health care and retail jobs, and jobs at call centers for $7 and $8 an hour.

At the time of the 2000 Census, the county's poverty rate was about 15 percent, far lower than when Johnson came. Yet in the food pantry, a sense of pessimism remains. More people with jobs, some with incomes nearly twice the poverty level, show up once a month to stretch their food budget.

National experts say the poverty rate no longer shows how many families are living below the subsistence level. As in 1964, the poverty line is still defined as three times the cost of a year's worth of food. But while the inflation-adjusted cost of food has fallen, the costs of other needs, such as housing, transportation and child care, have grown.

Now, at twice the poverty level, nearly three-quarters of American families have at least one serious financial hardship, such as worries about food, rent or mortgage payments or about inadequate medical or child care, according to the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute.

"The category you could call struggling has broadened to include families at twice the poverty rate," says Jared Bernstein, senior economist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

On Easter Sunday, Brenda Teets gathers her children and guests for a dinner of ham and macaroni salad, deviled eggs and green bean casserole.

Her first husband is dead of cancer, and two other marriages are over. Teets remains the gravitational center of the family, with four children still at home, including one who pays rent to live in the basement.