When the Bill is $100 Million, is having Volunteers the Better Option?

   I read how $70 million in federal funds and $30 million in state funds will finance a Medicaid program for Operation Rio Grande, the effort to address homelessness and the crime in the homeless district.
   That's not the whole bill for Operation Rio Grande, but I would guess it is a sizable portion.
   I wonder at such a big bill, Yes, buying beds in drug treatment centers might help. I read a story of a man who was successfully treated. I wonder if Utah's commitment to social treatment might be trendsetting and wonderful.
   Or, are other states already doing this.
   I also wonder if it is too much money. I wonder if it is only a well that will only get deeper, spending increasing year after year. I wonder if we are financing an industry that feeds off the poor. Instead of giving money to the poor, we give it to the providers, those who provide treatment beds for the drug addicts.
   If the treatments work, do we say it is all worthwhile? I don't know. But, I think we should both consider the treatment centers and consider alternatives, such as volunteers. I confess, I do not know how much volunteer work is already involved. We have the Volunteers of America, but how many of their workers are actually unpaid volunteers? How many of their administrators are unpaid volunteers?
   Would we even be able to man an all-volunteer program? Is an all-volunteer program even possible, or are some paid positions necessary?