In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, western Massachusetts groups are rallying together to support both people and animals in the areas most affected by the damage.

Among these is a pet supply donation drive led by Kathy Hynes, founder of the Adams-based dog rescue and adoption nonprofit Got Spots Etc. The South Deerfield Veterinary Clinic is participating in the collection effort.

In a phone interview, Hynes said her organization has worked with private pilots to transport dogs between states, and will use that support to carry pet supplies into North Carolina on Saturday and possibly next weekend.

Hynes was a military nurse who spent time caring for survivors of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and she has lived in the Carolinas, where she’s experienced hurricanes. She said she’s seen what the human toll of a natural disaster like this can be, but that animals tend to be overlooked.

“People always think of the humans first and the animals get second-rate,” Hynes said.

Hynes explained that when these disasters occur, donations are critical for animal relief. From her experience, animal shelters already come with a limited supply of pet care items that are quickly used, both in disaster and non-disaster situations. Additionally, she said people forget that these situations are not resolved quickly and relief efforts can be ongoing.

“After a couple months, people forget and they think, ‘Everybody’s recovered,’ and then the other part of that is they don’t realize there’s a lot of poor areas that have already been impacted with poverty and lack of food for animals,” she said. “So that’s all part of my equation as well.”

According to the South Deerfield Veterinary Clinic’s Facebook page, the donations being accepted include dog and cat food, horse halters, horse blankets, lead ropes, tarps and bungee chords. Donations can be dropped off at the clinic between 9 a.m. and noon on Friday, Oct. 11. Hynes will also be accepting monetary donations to cover transportation costs, and those who are interested in donating can do so via PayPal using her email, Skippy10@outlook.com.

In Turners Falls, the mutual aid organization The Finders Collective, located at 104 Fourth St., began calling for donations on Oct. 2. Within a week of the call going out, Finders Collective member Grae McLaughlin said that so many donations for Hurricane Helene relief came in, they have stopped accepting them.

“We have so much, so the supply drive right now is on pause. We’ve been loading up the cars and assessing how much space there is,” McLaughlin said, adding that the community’s willingness to help was inspiring.

McLaughlin said this is a mutual aid effort. Mutual aid is a type of assistance wherein organizations and individuals work with others to extend resources to those who need it. In the context of this type of disaster, monetary and labor donations are valuable, along with supplies like food, water, personal hygiene products, clothing, infant care products, tools and more.

The first round of donations was brought down to North Carolina late last week, and the last truck to return to Turners Falls came back on Oct. 7. McLaughlin said this initiative was possible as two people known to them were going down to visit an affected family in North Carolina, and the opportunity arose for donations to be brought with them in trucks, which successfully reached the drop-off points in North Carolina.

Although many donations came in to The Finders Collective, McLaughlin explained that some items had to be prioritized over others — a consequence of the developing situation on the ground.

“Priorities begin to emerge based on how much stuff you can fit in the car, and then what the priorities are down there,” McLaughlin explained. “Some bags of clothes got dropped off as part of the supply drive, and conceptually that makes sense of why that would be useful, but isn’t yet the priority.”

Instead, monetary donations, labor and supplies for cleanup have been beneficial to the situation in North Carolina. When asked about continuing aid amid the arrival of Hurricane Milton, McLaughlin said no plans for donation campaigns have been set up by The Finders Collective at this time.

“[It’s] solidarity across state lines,” McLaughlin said. “There’s a lot of different ways that that might look, and with Hurricane Helene, it’s becoming aware of the on-the-ground efforts by grassroots organizations and collectives and affinity groups in Asheville in western North Carolina, and paying attention to the work that they’re doing and what they need.”

McLaughlin added that western Massachusetts isn’t “immune to natural disasters” and the organization can be a key resource during local emergencies.

Outside of donations for hurricane victims, The Finders Collective is still accepting donations for its free store in Turners Falls. McLaughlin said they encourage people to visit and see what The Finders Collective has to offer.

According to CNN, Hurricane Helene initially made landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane. Severe damage to coastal communities was reported and the destruction continued as the storm moved north into Georgia as a Category 2 hurricane.

The storm progressed into western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee as a tropical storm where extensive devastation from flooding and landslides occurred. The hurricane is estimated to have resulted in billions of dollars in damage and the death toll has surpassed 230 people, making Hurricane Helene the deadliest hurricane to make landfall on the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.