191,725 children live below the poverty line in Colorado. These are their stories.
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The Martinez Family: Poverty for the ages in Capulin Poverty has been a way of life for ages in this part of the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado. Sherry and Eli Martinez are raising eight of their nine children in an adobe home and adjacent building on their property in Conejos County, where 31.4 percent of children live below the poverty line, more than twice the state average. Sherry earns $21,000 a year at a local hospital, but Eli, a war veteran, has been unable to hold a job. Eli is too proud to accept food stamps. Instead, in addition to spending time with the children, he hunts for meat and takes seasonal jobs in nearby potato fields. All the kids pitch in to fix meals, feed the animals and gather firewood for the stoves.
