seventeen and a half million people one third of all rural families are left behind in an age of technology and industrial progress family some of them large that leaves make less than three thousand dollars a year white negro american indian spanish american farmers it's farmers and even former coal mine road builders rural people struggling with poor housing limited education few employment opportunities and little throughout america regardless of race or heritage they are trapped in a life they did not choose a life they feel powerless to achieve you can watch them walk on the streets their banner over with their arms crossed frequently looking than walking usually slowly yet we now know their lives can be changed these people can join the rest of america in a life filled ment and plenty but improvement can only come when all the segments of the population join together in an effort dedicated to providing opportunities for these people not more welfare checks but opportunity so they can use their own willingness and ability to become self sufficient citizens for example it is difficult for a small farm er like this one to get along in the fast moving world around him his gross income for the previous year was thirty five hundred dollars out of that three thousand dollars had to be put back into farming leaving five hundred dollars for his own use he and his wife struggled with no running water low power their own low lying with land and feels full of rocks they have some cows but no need for the right kind of feed as a result the cows cannot produce as well as they should and the farmer's income drops to lower his chosen way of life becomes more and more difficult to maintain he's ambitious proud of the farm great disaster to our particular part of the world here it has taken the people away from us our little communities our towns have lost the trade and business some communities are seeking ways to help the farmers and keep them on the land we've had a demonstration farm program in connection with our work to help improve on livestock and  having better crops and building up the song and various forms of conservation way of move more to the project method in order to suggest ways in which our people at least supplement their income one of the things that we are trying to do is to carry on work at our sorghum mill where people raise cain and then bring it to the mill for processing this is a project in which we have been able to get the people to take much of the initiative we have provided some leadership however we have a full time director of economic development in our program th is started a project to help the people of this area to help them so what we're really trying to do is to help really two classes of people those farmers who would bring cane and to the mill and also to help those who might be able to work here at the mill one of the firm conviction that we do have about our mountain people is that they do want to help themselves if given an opportunity doesn't necessarily have to be a target a project that we feel is one of the most important things is that local communities organize themselves and attempt to work at helping themselves together rather than depending on someone else to come in from the outside and furnish their resources in terms of leadership and finances i don't mean most when local communities can organize themselves and develop projects together but industry is only part of the sometimes a relatively small improvement can mean the difference between success and failure the most important thing in the valley of ours here is that water without water we cannot do anything every rural property involves more than the specific problems of farmers it's a fix so widespread children are especially hard hit by nature full of life exuberance eager to learn but children entering many others they had no breakfast before leaving home but this school found a way to give them our hot meal early in the morning the cafeteria staff is paid by the regular school lunch program and the extra food is provided by the federal government as a result the children no longer have fainting spells nor do they sit through a long day of classes on an empty stomach