Riddle Roots Community Projects

Since William H. Riddle and his pioneering family settled in what they would call “one of the most beautiful little valleys in the world,” generations of community members have invested in making Southern Dougals County the best place to live, raise a family, make a living, and retire.

A legacy of Community Investment

By pooling resources and working together, residents and local businesses have overcome many challenges to maintain a strong, complete community.

Riddle Roots Community Projects is committed to upholding this legacy of community investment, improving the quality of life for Southern Douglas County residents, and being good environmental stewards of this beautiful valley that we are fortunate to call home.

Today, we need your help to meet the growing needs of our great communities.

1 in 3 Southern Dougals County Residents Live in Poverty

• Southern Douglas County has some of the highest percentages of poverty in our county.
• Due to limited safe, quality, affordable childcare many community members are not able to work so must rely on government assistance to provide basic necessities for their families.
• In order to make ends meet, parents are often forced to leave their young children home unsupervised for long periods of time while they are working. Without a safe place to go after school and in the summers, these unattended youth are more likely to be exposed to trauma, crime, violence, abuse, and drug use at a young age, triggering a vicious cycle of generational poverty that can feel impossible to escape.

Riddle’s Inequitable Access to Activities, Programs, and Services

• Riddle’s community fitness center closed in 2019.
• RHS basketball court, built in 1935, doesn’t meet standard regulations.
• Our VFW chapter moved out of town due to the poor conditions of Riddle’s VFW Hall.
• Riddle’s afterschool arcade burned down in 2016.
• Local businesses suffer from frequent call-ins and high turnover rates, often due to their employees being unable to find reliable childcare. This lack of dependable workers has sadly resulted in some of our local businesses either closing or relocating.

Southern Douglas County has a Superfund Site

Although it contributed greatly to the economic development of our region, runoff from the now abandoned Formosa Mine Site can contaminate local surface water, groundwater, soils, and sediment with heavy metals. This has led to it being designation as a Superfund Site.

Superfund is a federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program that designates, investigates, and cleans-up sites contaminated with hazardous substances. Sites managed under this program are referred to as Superfund sites.

Riddle Roots Community Projects

Responding to the growing needs of our communities, a small group of greater Riddle area residents came together to form Riddle Roots Community Projects in 2019. Riddle Roots is now a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization with over a dozen members representing Roseburg, Myrtle Creek, Canyonville, Riddle, Days Creek, and Azalea who share a mission to champion projects that provide Southern Douglas County with the infrastructure, resources and services they need to be a complete, strong community for generations to come.

Riddle Roots Community Projects spent its first year asking members of the community what their needs were and exploring the best ways to meet these needs. Through thoughtful consideration of these findings and in consultation with local businesses, community partners, city planners, contractors, architects and engineers, they determined the best way to meet as many of these needs as possible would be to build the Riddle Activity Center.

Riddle Roots Community Projects Board of Directors

Lynn Herbert, Jane Mitchell, Krista Chambers, Mike Rondeau,
Elin Miller, Lee Patterson, Jeff Mornarich, Sam Carter, Justin Smithhisler