Three of a group of 10,000 low-income an

Three of a group of 10,000 low-income and needy people who lined up to receive free Thanksgiving turkeys and fixings distributed by the Jackson Limousine Service, in Los Angeles on November 24, 2009. Nearly 40 million people lived in poverty in the United States last year as the recession forced the first significant rise in the US poverty rate in five years. The official poverty rate in 2008 was 13.2 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2007, according to the Census Bureau's annual "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States" report. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images)