The South Pacific County Humane Society, or SPCHS, a remarkable non-profit organization located in Long Beach is named for its location, not its funding sources. This mighty little nonprofit is not funded by the government as many assume; instead, it relies on the kindness and generosity of people who believe in its mission and think it does a good job.

While cash gifts and fundraising efforts pay operational costs, the shelter works hard on grants to pay for improvements and large, planned expenses such as roof replacement. Grants also subsidize spay/neuter for neighborhood cats and owners who can’t afford the surgery. It’s usually a share, with the shelter and the grant splitting the cost while the pet parent pays nothing to a small fee.

SPCHS receives $0 from city, county — any governmental entity. They do enjoy two very low-cost land leases, one from the city and one from the county. The non-profit owns the building and improvements they’ve developed on the land.

The county, and each city, have responsibilities for animal control, which is primarily directed toward dangerous animals for budgetary reasons. Long Beach, Ilwaco, and Pacific County have designated the Long Beach facility as their shelter of record, which gives the non-profit the ability to impound stray pets and find them new homes. Working together, they have standardized the hold time to a minimum of five days, and law enforcement has access to impound South County animals as well.

There is a (barely) paid director, and a handful of people who share essential animal care duties, being paid maybe a dozen hours a month. Everything else is done by volunteers. They answer phones, develop and complete paperwork, network with other shelters and rescues, socialize and walk animals, clean, bathe, groom, and assess pet health, give medications and treatments, and watch the pets for signs of shelter stress. Volunteers plan, budget, fundraise, manage website and social media, and create and produce so, so many fundraisers. They do literal mountains of laundry, take photos, write stories about the animals, and data entry everything, while also learning everything from disinfectant protocols to best practices in animal sheltering, to nonprofit compliance. They do handyman jobs, landscaping, and cleaning around the building, transport of animals from high-kill-rate shelters as well as to and from medical appointments. They foster animals with special needs such as medical, psychological, or behavioral issues, and also the very young, and very old — any time an animal can’t be moved directly into the adoption pool or needs to wait for adoption while receiving special care.

There is so very much to do when you have as many as five dozen pets on a given day needing care, socialization, walks, play, etc. And if you ask a volunteer, they know the name of every pet that has moved through the shelter going back years. Caring is real.

And they get yelled at because there is a perception they owe people something as the governmental agency they are not. People make demands and get upset when things don’t work out the way they imagine they should. Still, SPCHS volunteers give their time, talent, and treasure for the love of pets.

Reading about the challenges north Pacific County is facing without benefit of a rescue with a pet shelter facility, I am even more grateful to SPCHS supporters for the gift of the Long Beach shelter.

I feel it is important for my neighbors to know our good fortune is due to all of these people — and not tax dollars. And I hope knowing this might cause those using shelter services to treat volunteers with a little more kindness and less “I pay taxes — you work for me” demands. Side note: If you disagree with how things are done, get involved! Not only will you help out the dogs and cats, you’ll soon find you have a voice in the organization.

I do not speak for anyone at SPCHS; this letter is my personal opinion as a donor and volunteer.

If you wish to contribute to this noble cause, you can volunteer your time, talent, or financial support through beachpets.com, the SPCHS website. By doing so, you become an essential part of the solution, helping to improve the lives of vulnerable animals in the community.

KELEIGH SCHWARTZ

Long Beach