BENSON -- Three years ago, the Humane Society of Swift County warned the public that the end of the nonprofit group could be near unless a sudden surge of volunteerism flooded the organization.
Fast-forwarding to 2007, the core of the county's Humane Society has barely changed and its members debated again Tuesday about possibly disbanding if reinforcements are not found.
"We basically have too few people trying to do too much," said Robin Finke, president of the Humane Society of Swift County. "We don't have enough people to do the animal rescue effectively and those of us doing the work are getting burned out. ... We just need more bodies to do the job if it is going to continue."
On Sept. 28, 2004, members of the Humane Society held a meeting at the Benson Library illustrating their lack of volunteers and lack of a shelter for animals received. Almost exactly three years later, the organization held a similar meeting Tuesday at the library.
The need for the society has remained consistently high.
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However, with only a core volunteer staff of eight to 12 people, assisting a whole county with its animal-related issues is difficult to manage, Finke said, especially when there are so few foster families for the society's pets.
"There are a lot of people who have donated money, which is great. Obviously we always need that," Finke said. "But we need more people to get involved."
During Tuesday's meeting, the Humane Society board members discussed the possible end to the society's animal rescue program and focusing more on its spay and neuter program, Finke said. While the spay and neuter program has been successful since the Humane Society's formation in 2001, Finke said, the Humane Society doesn't have enough volunteers to effectively run its animal rescue program.
Back in 2004 when the organization asked for the public's help for the first time, a few new volunteers came to the rescue, but a few existing ones backed out at the same time, Finke said. In other words, "the number of people involved stayed the same."
Although the group dons the county name, Finke said the public sometimes confuses the group's connection to the county. In the society's case, the organization is a private nonprofit group that has received few funds from Swift County. And with minimal growth and minimal support from the county, Finke said, Humane Society members are having trouble finding reasons for the organization to exist.
"We're all volunteers. We all have our own jobs, families and commitments as well," Finke said. Finke, for example, is the Swift County attorney.
"It's really getting to the point where a lot of us are feeling 'If the public doesn't care, then why should we?' Which is a bad attitude to start getting, but it gets frustrating," he said.
Yet the need for the society is still there, Finke said. According to Tribune reports from 2004, the society was called on more than 270 times in that year. This year, Finke said, the society had at least 220 calls. And with the society's inability to have effectively raised money for a shelter, there simply are not enough volunteers and hours for the society to take care of every call.
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"We don't want to get to the point where the public is thinking we're crying wolf every couple of years," Finke said. "But this is definitely a real situation, and we can't keep doing it the way we have been doing it with the bodies we have."
For more information about the Humane Society of Swift County, visit its Web site at www.swiftcountyhumanesociety.petfinder.com/ . Or to contact the Humane Society of Swift County, call 888-808-3497.
