In regard to Naomi Schalit’s Aug. 5 article on the ongoing problem of lead poisoning in Maine (“Despite state law, thousands of Maine children still suffer from lead poisoning”):
I work at H.O.M.E. Co-op, a private nonprofit in Orland that runs several homeless shelters, and we have had to close one of our family shelters to young children because of lead paint that our financially strapped organization cannot afford to fix.
The only state program for lead paint remediation is for private homes, and the only federal program is very limited and is only available to municipalities for projects totaling more than $1 million.
As we are in a small town, this leaves us in the lurch, and we have to turn away homeless single mothers with young children.
Surely a country that can afford endless wars and endless tax cuts for the rich can afford the relatively simple task of freeing our children from the scourge of lead poisoning.
Lawrence Reichard
Orland
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