From left, Tera McIntosh, ’06, and her wife, Amy, care for a pig at their animal rescue, Misfit Mountain, in Clyde, N.C. Their organization helped place animals with foster families after dozens of animals’ owners were displaced because of devastation from Hurricane Helene. Submitted Photo

In the aftermath of tragic events, there's a famous quote that Fred Rogers attributes to his mother that is often recited: “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” Tera McIntosh is one of those helpers. It's a part of her identity. She even has a tattoo of Rogers on her arm.

“Giving to my community is a part of my character,” said McIntosh, who graduated from Slippery Rock University in 2006 with a degree in therapeutic recreation services. “I've been involved with community development for many years. It's in my nature that when I see a crisis or a complex issue, I want to help.”

A resident of Clyde, N.C., McIntosh didn't have to look far from her home following the morning of Sept. 27 when Hurricane Helene devastated the mountainous region of western North Carolina with deadly flooding and catastrophic property damage.

That's when McIntosh answered her call as a helper. She is the director of development for Misfit Mountain, a foster-based animal rescue organization for the Greater Asheville area that was founded by her wife, Amy. The property at Misfit Mountain encountered more than $30,000 in damages, including flooded campsites that are rented to raise funds to support the animal rescues and shelters.

This loss was minimal compared to the families who lost their homes and loved ones.

“Everywhere you turn, there are buildings demolished, roads are taken out and people's livelihoods are gone,” McIntosh said. “Being very connected to the community through the work that we do, we've experienced the vicarious trauma and having to relocate animals so that they were safe.”

During the three weeks after the hurricane hit their community, Misfit Mountain took in or placed dozens of animals with foster families. The six-person volunteer staff has worked with more than 50 additional volunteers, as many as 20 per day, to make repairs and dig drainage trenches for the Misfit Mountain property, as well as deliver more than 14,000 pounds of donated animal food and supplies and 5,000 pounds of supplies for people.

The heart of their work, however, has been animal rescue, and their recovery efforts have been both heartbreaking and miraculous.

Misfit Mountain provided temporary homes for animals from Tony Garrison's family. Garrison was the battalion chief with the Fairview Volunteer Fire Department who died while attempting to save people in the Garren Creek community, including several of his family members, who were trapped in a mudslide when flooding brought on a second mudslide. Eleven people from Garrison's family died. Misfit Mountain found foster homes for 15 animals, including ferrets, snakes, rabbits, cats and dogs, that were from multiple households of the extended family.

Another woman in Gerton who was airlifted from her home contacted Misfit Mountain from a hospital to see if they could recover two pigs that were left behind. With an escort from the local fire department, Misfit Mountain volunteers road ATVs to the property and found the pigs alive and took them to their shelter.

“Once the family has safe housing, we reunite them with their animals,” McIntosh said. “There are people in the community taking care of these animals until that family gets back up on their feet. That type of support and love for your neighbor represents the people of Appalachia. That's the nature of people here in the mountains to take care of each other. Everyone seems to have a chain saw in the back of their truck or know someone who does, and they are willing to help. That's been so inspiring.”

McIntosh is not native to western North Carolina. She grew up in Johnstown, Pa., before earning her bachelor's degree at SRU, a master's degree in nonprofit management from Carlow University in 2009, and a doctoral degree in leadership and change from Antioch University in 2012.

She is currently an online instructor for both Antioch and Robert Morris University, teaching courses in organization leadership and management.

She remains connected with SRU as a member of the LGBTQIA+ alumni board and continues to maintain a network in Western Pennsylvania. Her doctoral work focused on community development in Pittsburgh's Hill District, and while living in the city she worked with numerous nonprofits, including Renew Pittsburgh and coffeehouses and spoken word organizations.

McIntosh became more invested with animals after meeting her wife and seeing the importance of humane societies and rescues, especially after the pandemic when there was a sudden rise and fall in animal ownership, leaving shelters at overcapacity.

“We wanted to create a new kind of animal rescue that was volunteer based and would take a complex community problem like animal overpopulation and animal welfare and put it back into the hands of the community,” McIntosh said. "(We tell people that) if you see a problem and you want to help animals, you can help fix that problem and volunteer. It removes the red tape that you see in nonprofits.”

But the problem from a natural disaster was something no one in the community was expecting.

“With Hurricane Helene, we just thought it was going to be a bad storm and some flash flooding,” McIntosh said. “We definitely were not prepared for this, the relief of trying to help others, the rescuing of animals, and then the repairing of our facility and surrounding area. It has been very exhausting to say the least.”

More information about Misfit Mountain is available on the organization's website.

Justin Zackal is a communication specialist with Slippery Rock University.