The Athenian government would never have conceived of a government programs of the type we see today. The poor were certainly recognized and helped by the government when possible, but people believed that their success and well being in life was their responsibility – not the government’s. The government’s main role was to keep out the invader and provide basic rights that could be turned into a useful life for its citizens.
There were essentially no bureaucracies in antiquity until the time of Caesar Augustus. Augustus built the first civil service system by taking work that had previously been contracted out to businessmen and bringing it into the government. Even then, the goal of the bureaucracy was to manage the machinery of government, not provide for the public welfare.