Do we have a duty to help the poor? How do we quantify that?

[Micawber]

OK.  Where I was actually going with this is - if we have a duty to help the poor, does that then translate into a right to that help for the poor?  In other words, does a poor person have the right to have his basic material needs met by someone else?

The poor have a right to basic material needs. Many cannot work for a variety of reasons.

No one has a "right" in this sense; you mean, I think, that it's the duty of others to show charity to them.