Event
Bench Fire Recovery
July 23 – October 31, 2026
The Bench Fire started July 23, 2026, and burned more than 60,000 acres across the Warm Springs Reservation, forcing evacuations, destroying homes, and straining a water system that was already fragile. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs launched a wildfire recovery fund, and the region responded: mutual aid volunteers ran daily water deliveries, churches, land trusts, and farms became supply drop-off sites, and the Red Cross opened shelters and served meals.
Recovery is a long road. The organizations below took part in the response and continue to support Warm Springs families. If you want to help on the reservation itself, please coordinate through the Tribes' designated volunteer contacts rather than showing up unannounced, so help goes where it's actually needed.
Organizations taking part
Every Child Central Oregon
also known as ECCO, Marked for Love, NeighborImpact Supportive Services, Every Child Oregon
Local affiliate of Every Child Oregon, mobilizing the community to support children and families impacted by foster care in Deschutes, Crook, and Jefferson counties and Warm Springs. It recruits and supports foster families, provides essentials for kids entering care, and runs a regional diaper bank. Founded in 2019 and later operated by Marked for Love, it joined NeighborImpact in July 2026 as the agency's Supportive Services department, keeping its staff, warehouse, and programs.
There are ways to help big and small: assemble Welcome Boxes for kids waiting in a DHS office, put together Family Fun Boxes and Cleaning Kits for foster families, meet specific requests through My NeighbOR, and donate needed items. Adults can also become certified to provide respite care or open their homes as foster parents. Packing projects are great for families, classes, and workplace groups.
The American Red Cross Cascades Region serves Central and Eastern Oregon, responding to home fires and other disasters with shelter, food, and emergency support, collecting lifesaving blood, teaching CPR, first aid, and home fire safety, and supporting military families and veterans. Its work in Central Oregon is powered largely by trained local volunteers.
Volunteer roles include Disaster Action Team responders, blood drive support, home fire safety campaign outreach, CPR/first aid instructors, and shelter workers during emergencies. Background check and orientation required; 18+.
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs
also known as CTWS, Warm Springs Tribes, Warm Springs Reservation
The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, made up of the Warm Springs, Wasco, and Paiute tribes, govern the 644,000-acre Warm Springs Reservation in north-central Oregon, established by the Treaty of 1855. In July 2026 the Bench Fire burned across the reservation, forcing evacuations and destroying homes, and the Tribes launched the CTWS Wildfire Recovery Fund to help community members rebuild.
After the 2026 Bench Fire, the Tribes are welcoming volunteer help and donations for recovery, coordinated through Tribal Emergency Management so help goes where it's needed: sorting and distributing supplies, community cleanup, and support for displaced families. Please contact the designated Tribal volunteer coordinator before showing up, and group drives should coordinate drop-offs in advance.
A nonprofit serving Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson counties through food access, housing stability, child care, and financial services, empowering individuals and families to succeed.
Volunteer opportunities include sorting and packing donated food, supporting warehouse operations, and helping with group service days for corporate and community groups across food, housing, and family support programs.
The Deschutes Land Trust conserves and cares for the lands and waters that sustain Central Oregon, so local communities and the natural world can flourish together for generations to come. Through voluntary conservation agreements, land donations, and purchases, it has protected more than 17,000 acres, restoring creeks, meadows, forests, and grasslands for fish and wildlife. Its community preserves, from Camp Polk Meadow and Whychus Canyon to the Metolius, are open for guided hikes, family nature walks, and exploration.
Volunteers help through several tracks: stewardship work parties (plantings, weed pulls, trail care on Land Trust preserves), trail steward monitoring, community science surveys of birds, butterflies, plants, and wildlife, leading guided hikes as volunteer naturalists, event support at Nature Nights, and office help with mailings. Family-friendly events welcome kids with a supervising adult; some work parties are adults only.
Mutual aid group, co-led by Warm Springs tribal members, that works with Tribal Emergency Management to deliver clean drinking water to households on the Warm Springs Reservation while its aging water system is rebuilt. When the 2026 Bench Fire struck, the coalition grew to about 130 volunteers, shifting from quarterly to daily water runs and coordinating supply drives from Portland to Central Oregon.
Volunteers deliver drinking water to households on the reservation, run donation drives and drop-off sites around the region, sort and distribute supplies, and help track changing community needs. People can also join the steering committee, and the coalition especially welcomes Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to get involved.
End of the list. Every organization on this page is now showing.