It’s one of the great things about the free enterprise system.
You get what you pay for — every time.
Sure, sometimes you get something awful.
Sometimes you get taken.
Sometimes you pay and pay for something it turns out you really don’t like all that well.
But you get what you pay for.
That is the case with the Kansas Humane Society, where so many people want to come in and help, the society is charging them for the privilege.
Hey, it makes perfect sense.
If folks really want to make a difference and you have more volunteers than you need, why not make some money off them?
It wouldn’t work everywhere.
There are, believe it or not, some worthwhile projects that go begging for help.
But if you have more volunteers than work to do, why not make money, too?
According to the Associated Press, that is what the state society is doing: “The Kansas Humane Society has so many volunteers that it’s starting to charge people for giving their time.
“The society says the $15 charge to volunteers helps cover costs associated with the program. Current volunteers and those 17 and younger will not be charged the fee.
“Since the Humane Society moved to a new building that doubled its space in 2009, the number of volunteers has grown from 300 to more than 1,300.”
Certainly, the Humane Society, like all public groups, needs the help that volunteers can provide, by it also undoubtedly can use the income, because everything that is involved in the critically important work that humane societies do gets more expensive all the time.
And the need has only continued to grow as Kansans continue to refuse to be responsible about their pets.
In Great Bend, for example, if you bother to get out before sunrise you will find that you cannot travel more than a block or two without sighting a feral cat running along the street, darting into the storm drains, hunting through people’s yards.
As they continue to breed, the community is going to only have a greater problem to address.
Now multiply that by a community the size of Topeka and the issue starts being clear.
We have proven that we will not be responsible about our pets, so the need for humane societies are only going to grow. And the costs are only going to go up.
The Topeka group is to be commended for thinking outside the box, though they, sadly, have many more challenges to face, just as we do locally.
— Chuck Smith