We live in an interesting time when the need for public relief is as great as it has ever been, greater by volume than even the famed Great Depression; at the same time the shared resources for helping the public are stretched thinner than ever.
The size and scope of the government is the subject of our currently hotly contested political debate. For our purposes here, we are not concerned with that.
No, what we are worried about is the 2.6 million Americans who have supposedly crossed the dividing line between working class and poverty, based on the findings of the U.S. Census, released the week before last.
Those 2.6 million people are not just numbers on some spreadsheet. Those are real people, Americans, with real problems that need to be addressed now. They can’t wait for the next election.
Unfortunately what resources there are to help are already stretched to the limit. Ask your local food pantry volunteer. Ask somebody in the Waldoboro Lions Club about their food pantry. They can tell you better than any pollster or politician and they are not looking for votes.
We think about those 2.6 million Americans now, the newest of the poor as the first hints of fall weather are upon us. It will be heating season soon, and fuel is more expensive than it was this time last year and it is bound to get more expensive this year yet.
The need is now and for those who don’t want the government to do it, and those of us who realize the government probably won’t do it, the question is what can be done?
The answer, we think, is quite a bit and it won’t take much individual effort.
Every week, throw one more non-perishable food items in your cart for the food pantry. Patronize any one, or more, of the Lincoln County Community Energy Fund’s fundraisers this year. Clean out the closet and take your retired clothes to the People to People. Give unused building materials or old furniture to Habitat for Humanity.
Whatever you don’t need, somebody else does. Count on it.
It won’t take much individually to get a great deal done.
