Day 2 Lunch Panel | 2025 IU Rural Conference

Rural organizing and resilience in the face of disaster

Rural Organizing and Resilience (ROAR) formed in Madison County, North Carolina in the Spring of 2017 in response to the need for a rural voice working for all who call these mountains home. During a lunch panel discussion, members of ROAR discussed ways the organization addressed emergent needs during the catastrophic Hurricane Helene flooding in North Carolina. The ROAR community grew rapidly in response to the massive extent of collective need but also as participants in the disaster relief network experienced the feeling of empowerment that emerges when we see what local communities can do together when there is an absence of institutional support. The panel will share experiences and lessons learned from the immediate response to the storm and from our years of experience working to create dynamic communal responsibility as we face the storms yet to come.