New Snowshoe Foundation director ready for Treasure on the Mountain
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Mystik Miller, the new director of the Snowhoe Foundation, is shown with her adopted rescue dog Konan.
SNOWSHOE -- The annual Treasure on the Mountain event will be presented Saturday by the Snowshoe Foundation, whose new director is looking for additional ways to serve the community.
"I began my job duties at the end of May, and it's been a whirlwind of activity since then," Mystik Miller told The Inter-Mountain with a laugh.
Treasure on the Mountain, which will take place all day Saturday at Snowshoe Mountain Resort in Pocahontas County, is returning to full strength after being offered in a scaled-down version in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.
"My goal is to sell out," Miller said. "We didn't sell out last year but we did a different model, because of COVID.
"It will be an in-person event on the mountain Saturday. We will offer personal protective equipment for people, with masks and hand sanitizer available for people if they desire. We're hoping for good weather."
During the event $300,000 worth of cash, cars, trucks and other items will be raffled off, with proceeds going to the Snowshoe Foundation.
"Our mission is to improve the quality of life, which is kind of broad," Miller said of the foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the children and families of Webster, Pocahontas, Randolph and surrounding counties. "We like to find the most impactful things we can do to help the community.
"I've been trying to get my feet under me and see how we can improve. The foundation's been around for many years now, and we want to make sure we're still being effective, that we're still fresh and not getting stagnant.
"The Treasure on the Mountain is our major event, but I have also been working with the Pocahontas County Humane Society and Animal Shelter about doing a fundraiser on the mountain. Animals are near and dear to my heart."
She adopted a rescue dog from the Greenbrier County Humane Society and named him Konan.
"He's Konan the Gentle Barbarian, because he's so ridiculously sweet," Miller said. "He's a mutt. He's probably lab/pit/boxer. He has a lovely soul."
Miller said she is thrilled to be with the Snowshoe Foundation, as she has an extensive background in nonprofit service.
"I'm a native West Virginian. I'm originally from Berkeley Springs," she said. "I attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. The year before graduation my dad passed away. I had planned on coming back to West Virginia and being with him, but then it fell to me to get the house together. All my siblings were older, and I didn't really want to live in that house by myself. So I moved out of state and worked out of state for six years."
In that time she worked in Maryland, Illinois and California.
"Then I did a little road trip to West Virginia, and when I came back here, it just felt like home. The people are just so amazing, and I just love it," she said. "I happened to be visiting in Lewisburg when the flood hit in 2016."
Miller worked as a volunteer and as an AmeriCorps worker to help the area recover from the natural disaster.
"I like working to build communities. It's really what I love doing," she said.
For more information, go to snowshoefoundation.org.