Swoop Raleigh

Raleigh, North Carolina

SWOOP (Strong Women Organizing Outrageous Projects) unofficially began in September 1996 in the aftermath of Hurricane Fran in Raleigh, North Carolina. Several friends emerged from their debris-strewn houses and yards and banded together to help each other clean up the mess. This group of women quickly discovered that, though the work was tough, they were totally invigorated by the power that they all felt from totally cleaning up a place that, when they arrived, had looked devastated. After a couple of very full weekends of hurricane work, they decided that they enjoyed working together so much that they started “swooping in” to do outrageous one-day clean-up projects about once a