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 invigorated by the power they felt from totally cleaning up a place that, when they arrived, had looked devastated. 

After a couple of very full weekends of hurricane clean-up 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 month, and formally named themselves “SWOOP.”  Quickly becoming specialists in awesome hurricane clean-ups, their numbers grew as friends told friends who told more friends.  From the original 16 women, SWOOP membership has grown to over 12100 women in the Greater Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill) and beyond.  Since 1996, SWOOPers have branched out from hurricane clean-ups to major neighborhood clean-ups, fence-building, painting, refurbishing, construction, deconstruction, and renovation for those individuals or agencies that SWOOP serves. These outrageous projects are now known as SWOOPin' Saturdays. 

SWOOP acquired its status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization on October 1, 2001.  In 2011, in response to a clear need in the community (i.e., we kept getting phone calls asking for help), SWOOP began a new program called Ramp It Up! This program builds affordable ramps that are needed quickly and cannot be built during a SWOOPin' Saturday project. Currently funded primarily by a Global Giving Foundation Grant (Pepsi-Cola Company), SWOOP hopes to grow the Ramp It Up! program to meet the needs of all those in the community who need access to their homes but cannot afford to pay for a ramp.