"What hurts us is that the majority of our people, close to 60 percent, travel outside the county for employment because there's limited opportunity," said Jody Walker of Vinton County Jobs and Family Services.

While many find work out of county, others struggle to locate employment and end up coming to Walker for help.

This year they have processed more than 880 new applications from people needing food stamps, Medicaid and other services. That's 880 out of 12,000 residents.

There are only two traffic lights in Vinton County and only one fast food restaurant. Two-thirds of people living here rely on the Job and Family Services for some sort of need, reported ONN's Denise Alex.

Chad Peters family runs a BP gas station in McArthur.

It is one of five gas stations in the county and it still loses money.

"Our gas prices are 20 cents higher than surrounding counties so that makes us slow," said Peters.

Walker said residents in the county have historically done with less.

The timber industry is one of the biggest and most prosperous in the county since the land here is 75 percent woods. But even timber companies are starting to see sales topple as people build less.

"People like being here, but you can't hardly afford to be here," said Butch Alexander of the Southern Ohio Hunting Preserve.

Alexander makes money by having people rent rooms, and hunt for food like bison, boar and deer.

He must spend more time now convincing potential customers that this is a good deal.

"You are going to have good meat that you'll know where it came from and it's going to cost you less than if you go to the grocery store and buy it," he added.

So from gas stations downtown to hunting areas, people are struggling in Vinton County but not planning on giving up.

ONN's Facing Recession Series:

If you need help finding a job or paying the bills, here's some resources to help you out.

• Ohio Job and Family Services: County Offices and Information
• The Ohio Means Jobs Web site helps match employees with people looking for a job
• For opportunites with the state of Ohio, visit the Ohio Hiring Management System
• Department of Labor Career Resources and Retraining Web Sites One-Stop and Career Voyages

If you have an great story idea about how an Ohioan is facing the recession, tell us about it here.

For a look at all of the stories in the ONN Facing Recession Story, click here.

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