The Feb. 12 letter by Francis Whittier, titled, “Spare your sympathy,” was upsetting. No one in the Katahdin region has asked for handouts or sympathy. The donations started locally with our own people donating to churches and other organizations. This assistance is available not only to laid-off Great Northern Paper workers, but anyone else who is affected by these layoffs.

Not everyone has big toys or fat bank accounts. We have friends who have cashed in their 401(k)s just to pay their bills and others in similar circumstances. We also know a family with four small children whose wife is undergoing cancer treatments.

An unemployment check won’t pay all their bills. These funds are available to people who don’t have the adequate funds available to pay their living expenses. Laid-off workers who have the funds available are asked to use them before seeking assistance. Our community and surrounding areas have always been known for their generosity when the need of others arose.

Please don’t pass judgment on those you feel have earned too much money. They have taken pay and benefit cuts and also have lived with layoff after layoff and uncertainty since the ’80s despite their hard and honest work ethic. We don’t want young people moving from the communities and if there is any way we can help to keep them here, we will.

Shelly Mackin

Millinocket