About

Who We Are

Rural Organizing and Resilience formed in Madison County, NC in the Spring of 2017 in response to the need for a rural voice working for all who call these mountains home.

ROAR works to strengthen connections and respect among all people in our mountain communities by countering systems of oppression through education, outreach, empowerment and mutual aid

What We Do

Educate

We develop outreach materials to educate our community on how poverty, racism and bigotry function in our society and the damage they do. We hold educational workshops, movie nights, and table at local events to spread the word that resilient communities can bring us together across the lines that those in power try to divide us by.

Defend

We stand with communities struggling due to attacks on access to healthcare, food, housing and other resources as a result of prejudice and economic abandonment of rural areas. We understand how hate groups exploit the hardships rural communities face in order to divide us and gain new recruits. We are committed to countering their efforts to organize in our backyard by building solidarity between people from all walks of life and standing up for targets of hate.

Share

We draw upon the abundance of the land and our community to get resources into the hands of those in need. We believe in solidarity not charity and work to ensure that resources get to those who are overlooked by traditional aid groups because of bureaucracy, legal status or neglect. This work includes a monthly free kid’s book and clothing distro, hosting free community meals, fundraising for initiatives led by people of color, and providing heating assistance with free deliveries of firewood.