With so much love and caring going on around me, and being the “cynic” reporter some of the time, I had to ask the question at Sunday’s Always Adopt super event at Balise Toyota.

“So, who’s making the money?”

Somebody had to be making a buck transporting so many dogs north from kill shelters or found just lose in the streets and woods of the south. Dogs from Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana and the Carolinas can be found at virtually every animal rescue organization in the state. Ollie, our spotted coonhound, was found running wild in South Carolina, apparently let loose by someone who we suspect didn’t find him a suitable hunting companion. When we found him at the East Greenwich Animal Protection League, he had heartworm and was emaciated. He had arrived in a delivery of about 40 dogs, each in a crate and packed into a van.

On Sunday, I met one of those rescue mission drivers. Betty Baker is one of a group of 15 volunteers from Tennessee who left Saturday to make the Always Adopt event in Warwick. It was a 16-hour drive. They brought 57 dogs with them. This was not their first run. They had connected with Kate Healey Dubuque, director of Little Rhody Rescue, which Kate says has found homes for 10,000 dogs in the past 13 years. Betty and her team of volunteers were all staying with Kate in Harmony, R.I., and would be leaving Monday to return home.

“They’re my southern connection,” Kate said of Betty and the organization she’s a part of, Pooches on the Move. “You’ve heard of brothers in arms,” Kate added. “Well, we’re sisters in dogs.”

So, how do Betty and her crew get all the dogs?

She said there are no animal control shelters in the county where she lives.

“They’re out in the streets and in the mountains. It’s such a throwaway society. People just don’t care. It’s hard to believe,” she said. The animal rights laws in this part of the country don’t exist in the south. Betty said people don’t think twice of letting their dogs run loose. It’s that or they’re chained outside in all kinds of weather, and frequently without even water. Often when people move, they just leave their dogs, said Betty.

“To us they’re our babies. They’re just dogs to them.”

What about money?

Betty laughed. There are costs that need to be met, but from what I could tell no one was getting rich.

“There’s a lot of hard work,” Betty said. “Paperwork, licenses to bring them in.” She put costs at about $500 a dog.

She said there are two drivers per van and stops are made en route to walk the dogs and give them water. There’s some food, but not much, as many are unaccustomed to being in a moving vehicle and are likely to get sick. She holds her nose indicating it’s apparent when one has “made a mess,” and on those occasions she said she cleans it up before the animals can foul themselves or each other.

Adoption work doesn’t sound especially rewarding. But that’s not the case, as I found from so many Sunday. Kate was ecstatic with placing a female husky mix that was skin and bones, yet pregnant, when she arrived seven months ago. The couple that adopted her had difficulty speaking English. A young woman proficient in Spanish translated.

Kate told the dog’s story. The couple listened to the translation and hugged the latest member of their family.

“That makes my heart so happy,” said Kate. “She,” she said of the dog, “had zero future.”

That feeling was shared by Holly Norman. She’s a volunteer with Save One Soul and cuddled a brown puppy. It seemed to be happy, occasionally opening its eyes. If it had been a cat, it would have been purring. Suzanna was found abandoned in a field in Mississippi. Holly suspected Suzanna wouldn’t get adopted Sunday. She was too timid. She didn’t wag her tail. She barely greeted her admirers, even young Allison Shuster, who stroked her ears and suggested to her father, Rich, that she would be a good family fit.

“I’m so proud to be a northerner,” said Holly. “It’s amazing so many New Englanders are open to adopting these pups.”

There’s more to it than adoption, although that is often where the passion to save these dogs, no matter where they come from, starts. Tracy Malver from Connecticut and Tracey Mastandrea of Attleboro were two of about 200 volunteers who helped pull off the massive adoption day that brings together adoption agencies from across the state.

“You get involved, you get the fever,” said Malver.

She said a lot of work goes into the event and the rewards come not only when dogs are placed, but also in working as a team and making friends. The ranks of volunteers keep growing. Most are women, but says volunteer coordinator Sara Colby, “a few husbands get dragged along and fall in love, too.”

Top dog Louise Anderson Nicolosi, who started Always Adopt after watching a video of dogs being euthanized, was pleased with how the event went. She said those people who had been pre-approved for adoption were divided into two groups of 200 and scheduled to come at different times. It made for a more relaxed event, although at times there was a line outside the dealership and parking spaces were hard to come by.

Adoption is key but only part of what is happening, says Louise.

“The most important thing is they [people looking to adopt a dog] get exposure to Rhode Island shelters. They’re really warm.”

If money is the motive to this rescue train from the south, I didn’t find it. Rather, the reward was visible in the faces of those putting the event together and so obviously in the eyes and smiles of those who were meeting these “throwaways” for the first time, and in so many cases making a place for them in their homes and hearts.