"Why do you do such work?"
"...Doesn't the community need my hands?"
Especially if that "greater value" is a socially encouraged value.
Now it's the early 17th century, still an era dominated by religion.
Whether Europeans who have lived their entire lives in the Christian world or Americans who have been accepting Christianity for over 10 years now, the image of dedicating oneself to Christian values and the community naturally appeared quite positive.
In other words, their actions looked sufficiently "honorable."
And that was what the people of this community so desperately craved.
For Americans, it's familiar for the "wealthy" to deliberately bestow benefits around them to gain power and prestige.
And particularly the Europeans in this land are those who came with aspirations to become "high persons" like the gentlemen of their home countries. When such people were given wealth, what remained was... obvious.
