At a recent meeting of the poverty-reduction task force created by Gov. Tim Kaine, an advocate for homeless veterans suggested that the principal problem facing the poor in Virginia is that their fellow citizens have hearts of stone. “People don’t care,“ the advocate said. “That’s the biggest problem we have here in Virginia.“ Like any other sweeping generalization—“people don’t read”; “people don’t exercise”—the first statement is true of some individuals but not of others, and certainly not true of the commonwealth in the aggregate. From the United Way and the Central Virginia Food Bank to Sergeant Santa and Hunters for the Hungry, the Old Dominion boasts a profusion of charitable organizations.

The problem is homelessness. The problem is education. The problem is too few programs for ex-offenders. The problem is there are no community-based lending institutions. There’s not enough money, and not enough awareness of the social services that are available. There is no transportation for the working poor to get to better-paying jobs.

Kaine’s last six months as governor, but in his first six months as DNC chairman—is really only a cynical partisan exercise to score political points in an election year, then I am afraid that we will miss an opportunity to help the nearly 13 percent of Virginia children who currently live below the federal poverty line, and that would be a shame.

George Allen pushed no parole; Jim Gilmore, no car tax. Mark Warner’s bipartisan appeal paved the way for later Democratic Party success. Tim Kaine has spent the past 3½ years struggling to carve out his defining legacy as governor. But with the creation this week of a task force to reduce poverty in Virginia, he may be on to something.

With the state’s unemployment rate having doubled over the past two years and a record one out of 12 Virginians on food stamps, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine thought it seemed like the right time to create a poverty-reduction task force. Kaine addressed state officials, area bankers, nonprofit leaders and legislators yesterday at “Rethinking Poverty: Exploring Economic Opportunity for All Virginians” at the Omni Hotel in downtown Richmond.

Even during the good times, Virginia isn’t doing enough to meet the needs of its poorest residents. That’s the message in a report from the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis.

If national unemployment hits the high predicted by the Federal Reserve this week, an additional 159,000 to 218,000 Virginians could be pushed into poverty. As many as 73,000 children could be among the newly impoverished. The estimates are based on a 9 percent national unemployment rate in a study called “Predicting Poverty in the Commonwealth.“ The Federal Reserve now is predicting that unemployment will rise to 8.8 percent as the national economy shrinks this year.

A nonprofit group will build a farming complex in Culpeper to help feed the hungry in Charlottesville and eight counties.

Poverty isn’t something you can convey in a photo. It’s the sights, sounds and smells; it’s the touch and feel; it’s even the taste. It’s a mother trying to get water for her children, but failing. It’s a total body experience.