Yesterday’s news includes the footnote that a church in Milford, Connecticut is buying out an adult movie store. The congregation raised $245,000 to do it. Almost a quarter of a million dollars. What else could they have done with that money?
They could have given 16 people full time jobs at minimum wage with benefits. Alternatively, they could have hired 8 people at a salary of $30,000 per year. They could have “adopted” a dozen needly families, and helped them with everything their meager earnings would not cover.
They could have fed 150 homeless people a meal, each and every day of the year. They could have paid a years rent at $500 per month on 40 apartments to help homeless families transition out of shelters. They could have bought and distributed over 11000 Bibles. They could have purchased over 3600 winter coats for needy people.
They could have given full scholarships to 29 underprivileged children to attend the Academy of Our Lady of Mercy – Lauralton Hall in Milford. They could send 78 children to private schools with the Cato Institute’s average tuition of $3116.
They could have bought a years supply of birth control pills for 510 impoverished married women, preventinggod-alone-knows how many abortions, and helping poor families keep from becoming even poorer by allowing them to control the size of their families.
They could have purchased 22 Toyota Echos and replaced an equal number of old junkers that were unreliable, got lousy milage, and polluted “God’s Creation” more than new cars.
They could have sent 70 letters to each of the 3500 people on Death Row in the entire United States, or 12 letters to each and every one of the over 19,000 people in Connecticut prisons. They could have sent a $10 “get well” gift after each of Yale-New Haven Hospital’s annual 22,000 surgical operations.
They could have taken over 40,000 people to see a movie.
The really ironic part of this entire saga is that it will not put the former owner out of business at all. Could they really honestly have thought he would say to himself “Oh well, no more adult entertainment business for me. I think I’ll become a laundromat attendant”? No, he’ll use that money to rebuild, and have a new bigger place of business in a couple of months. Maybe just down the street! If the church got a non-compete clause in the sale, he will set up as close as is allowed, or get a court to set the agreement aside. His former customers will visit his new business, but his employees may not be so lucky, depending on their available transportation.
The only thing they have truly accomplished is knowing there’s no adult entertainment nearby — Not In My Back Yard. At least for today.