Focus Area
Health & Wellness Volunteer Opportunities in Central Oregon
Matching organizations, in a different order on every visit
Redmond Area Park And Recreation District
also known as RAPRD; Redmond Parks and Rec; The Hub; Cascade Swim Center
A special district providing aquatic and recreation programs, facilities, parks and trails in the greater Redmond area. RAPRD runs The Hub, its aquatic and recreation center, and offers swim lessons, youth and adult sports leagues, fitness, art and enrichment classes, summer camps and adaptive recreation.
Volunteer coaches are always needed for youth sports leagues; coaches complete a background check, concussion training and a pre-season clinic. Volunteers also support adaptive recreation programs and other youth programs, and roles range from coaching to grant writing. Community members can serve on the district's budget committee. Apply with the district's volunteer application; volunteers under 18 need a parent or guardian signature.
Destination Rehab helps adults living with neurological conditions such as stroke, Parkinson's, MS, and brain injury build confidence and independence through skills training, therapy-based programs, and adaptive adventures in the community and outdoors.
Volunteers assist adults with neurologic conditions during community outings and adventure-based activities, working alongside physical therapy staff to help participants build skills, confidence, and independence. No physical therapy background is required, just a willingness to actively support participants.
Heaven Can Wait 5K is Central Oregon's walk and run for breast cancer awareness, founded in 2000 by breast cancer survivor Charlene Levesque with the Central Oregon Running Klub. Held each fall at Redmond High School, it benefits Sara's Project, the St. Charles Foundation initiative supporting local breast cancer patients, and has raised more than $2 million for education, early detection, and patient support.
Volunteers make race weekend happen, with shifts from Friday through Sunday: bib pickup and registration at FootZone in Bend and in Redmond, Saturday venue setup, and on race day course marshals, water stations, course and finish-line cheerleaders, parking, merchandise, and cleanup. Most shifts run two to three hours, and some roles are open to volunteers as young as 12. Sign up for a shift online.
Adapt & Triumph is a nonprofit that removes barriers to fitness for people with disabilities, chronic conditions, and other adaptive needs. Partnering with local gyms, coaches, and healthcare professionals, it offers coached small-group strength and conditioning with built-in modifications, youth programs for kids and teens with adaptive needs, and a referral-friendly pathway from physical or occupational therapy into long-term fitness, with sliding-scale and scholarship pricing so cost is never the barrier.
Thrive Central Oregon connects people facing housing insecurity, mental health challenges, and other barriers with resources and support, through drop-in resource sites, peer support, and help navigating housing, health, and basic-needs services across the region.
Volunteers provide moving help for households Thrive works with as they move into more sustainable, long-term housing, filling a gap for neighbors who lack the ability or the family and friends to move on their own. Sign up for the volunteer list and you'll get a text when a household needs help.
Assistance League of Bend is an all-volunteer nonprofit with no paid staff, bringing comfort and hope to children and adults facing hardship across Deschutes County, with every dollar raised staying local. Its signature Operation School Bell program outfits nearly 2,000 local students each year with new school clothes, shoes, and coats, alongside emergency clothing for children entering foster care, prom attire through Cinderella's Closet, handmade comfort items for people in cancer treatment, and care and holiday gifts for seniors in long-term care.
An all-volunteer organization with no paid staff. Volunteers run programs like Operation School Bell (new clothes for kids), Cinderella's Closet (formalwear), knitted comfort items for cancer patients, and Secret Santa gifts and hygiene deliveries for seniors in care facilities.
Bend Parks & Recreation
also known as Bend Park and Recreation District, BPRD
Bend Park and Recreation District manages Bend's parks, trails, and recreation facilities, including Juniper Swim & Fitness Center, Larkspur Community Center, and the Deschutes River Trail, and offers year-round sports, fitness, youth, and senior programs for residents of all ages and abilities.
Volunteers coach youth sports, help care for parks and trails through project days (weeding, litter cleanup, trail maintenance), and support recreation programs — including teen-specific roles like Cougar Camp counselors, Junior Lifeguard and Swim Instructor Aides. Teen volunteers must be 12+; volunteers 18+ complete a background check. Applications and orientation are required for most roles.
Broken Arrow Ranch & Sanctuary
also known as BARS, Bend Wild Horse Sanctuary, Blissful Heart wild horse sanctuary
High desert sanctuary near Bend for rescued horses, burros, and mules, many of them saved from slaughter, abuse, or neglect, sharing its land with Broken Arrow Ranch, an equine-inspired wellness destination. Alongside caring for the herd, the nonprofit restores the land through regenerative practices, including the Pole Creek restoration project. It is supported in part by the Blissful Heart Wellness Center in downtown Bend, whose boutique proceeds help care for the horses.
Volunteers help with daily feeding, watering, and grooming of rescued horses, burros, and mules, barn upkeep and repairs, and fence building. Land stewards work on soil health and erosion control and replace invasive plants with natives, and others help at community events and educational tours or create photos and social media. Adults and teens are welcome, with special programs for youth groups, service clubs, and corporate teams.
Disabled American Veterans – Bend Chapter 14
also known as DAV Bend #14, Disabled American Veterans
The Bend chapter of Disabled American Veterans, the national organization of veterans helping veterans. Chapter 14 supports disabled veterans and their families in Central Oregon with help navigating VA benefits, rides to medical care, fellowship, and advocacy, and its members are active in local veterans events and ceremonies.
Volunteer drivers take veterans to VA medical appointments through DAV's transportation network (you don't need to be a veteran; a physical and background check are required). Members and supporters also help veterans navigate their benefits, staff veterans events, and take part in community observances like the Bend Veterans Day Parade.
Commute Options increases access to transportation options across Oregon, helping people walk, bike, roll, carpool, vanpool, and ride transit more and drive alone less. Based in Bend, it runs Safe Routes to School programs with bike and pedestrian safety education and walking school buses, the Get There commuter challenge and rewards program, and free e-bike safety education.
Volunteers lead Walking School Bus routes, walking students to and from school on a planned route, and support Safe Routes to School by helping at Walk+Roll to School Day, leading safety workshops, and mapping safe walking and biking routes. Volunteers also help at community bike and walk events and Get There challenge outreach, and board service is available.
The Crook County Quilt Guild is a Prineville quilting group that shares the craft and gives back, making and donating comfort quilts to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and contributing a quilt each year to the local hospice fundraising auction.
Quilters of all skill levels join guild meetings and sew days to make comfort quilts donated to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, and help create the quilt donated to the local hospice fundraising auction.
The Bend Marathon and Half is a locally owned spring road race weekend featuring a marathon, half marathon, 10K, 5K, and kids race on scenic courses through West Bend's neighborhood parks, ponderosa pine forest, and along the Deschutes River, finishing in the Old Mill District with a festive afterparty. Hosted by local runners Kari Strang and Max King, it supports local beneficiary nonprofits and runs a youth running program. The 12th edition is April 11, 2027.
Volunteers make race weekend happen: staffing aid stations with water and encouragement, packet pickup and bib distribution, course marshaling to guide runners, finish-line support with medals and results, and help with the kids race and the post-race party. Shifts are usually a few hours on race weekend, groups are welcome, and volunteers typically get an event shirt. Sign up through the race's volunteer registration.
You haven't seen them all yet. There are more organizations below.