Silly Spending

I spent the first years of my working career helping the poor that live around here. I experienced the annual turkey drought that usually, eventually, all worked out. I wondered how bad things were this year. Nick Welsh’s “Sweat of the Dog” confirmed my fear that there are even more people in need of help now.

Do we find that to be a mystery somehow? Sure, a study could lead to some new insight on ways to ease the permanence of their plight, but how does it help to plan for things we can’t afford to do? Does citing even sillier spending justify doing this study too? The data we already have says the money would be better spent buying cases of peanut butter or helping people pay their rent. Perhaps with this private funding we can morph the project to both directly and indirectly help those feeling neglect.—Rachel Hoyt, S.B.