Thomas
Jefferson said, “That government is best that governs least, because its people
discipline themselves.” We are
constantly engaged in a philosophical and ideological struggle over the role of
government in everyday life. Those of us
in the faith community are challenged and even commanded to help the poor, feed
the hungry, lift up the downtrodden and care for the needy. The sad truth is that many people of faith
have abdicated this responsibility over to the government. But not everyone! There are many churches, agencies, and groups
in this community who take their benevolent responsibility seriously and are
changing lives in a positive way. These
are situations that the government should be applauding and encouraging,
certainly not hurting!
The
Lexington Kiwanis Club has reached out to those in need by focusing on lifting
up and enriching the lives of children through an annual summer camp. When the camp first started in 1928 the
target group was children who were malnourished and susceptible to the dreaded
disease of tuberculosis. Kamp Kiwanis
today focuses on children who often come from troubled homes and do not receive
the love and encouragement that is so essential in developing a positive
self-esteem. We still have children who
don’t have enough food to eat and we feed them well, but the most important
thing is to feed their spirits and develop their sense of self-worth. We want each child to know they are special
and loved in the eyes of God.
Our
operation of Kamp Kiwanis, which gets more expensive each year, is strictly
through private funds. The only help we
get from the government is that we ask the Department of Social Services to
select the children to ensure we reach those who need this experience the
most. We receive no governmental funding
or subsidy. This is the reason why so
many of us are dismayed by the recent action of the NC State Legislature to tax
our primary source of revenue for our camp.
The
new tax was implemented as an entertainment tax to generate more revenue from
sporting events, concerts, and theater.
This is a tax we understand and support.
Governmental fairs were exempt from this tax but for some inexplicable
reason or grievous oversight, county fairs were not. Since 1946 the Lexington Kiwanis Club has
owned and operated the Davidson County Agricultural Fair with the sole purpose
of raising the funds to operate Kamp Kiwanis.
We are a non-profit that exists to help others. The Kiwanis Club members volunteer their time
to run the fair. All of the proceeds go
to bless the lives of these children who attend camp. No one is making
money. Everything is done for the
children.
We
operate on a razor-thin margin. All
school children can enter the fair for a dollar. The adult admission is $7.00. We don’t charge for parking. If this tax had been in effect last year, the
club would have been forced to pay $6,800 to the state. That would equal 970 people paying full
admission or to put it another way; 27 children would not be able to attend
camp.
I
applaud the efforts of Representative Sam Watford who has introduced an
amendment to exempt county fairs from this new tax. He not only knows of the good work we seek to
do, but realizes how detrimental this tax will be on a small organization like
Kiwanis. There are many times it is
necessary for the government to get involved in the lives of citizens. But when citizens are not only doing the
right thing, but seeking to break the cycle of poverty so that the next
generation will be less dependent on the government, the last thing the
government needs to do is weaken that cause.
We
can, and should, continue the debate on the role of government in our
lives. The more that faith groups and
civic organizations can do to help people in need is a win/win for all of
us. It fulfills our mission and it
reduces the burden on our government. All
we ask is that the government not hurt our efforts to do good.
