Focus Area
Volunteer with Older Adults in Central Oregon
Matching organizations, in a different order on every visit
SAGE - Senior Advocates for Generational Equity
also known as SAGE
SAGE (Senior Advocates for Generational Equity) helps people over 50 give forward so that younger and future generations can thrive. SAGE members in central Deschutes County volunteer their time and experience with local youth-serving programs and advocate for policies that support children and families.
SAGE offers a range of ways to give forward, including leading or joining discussion groups and workshops, mentoring younger generations, event support, and contributing to special projects. Some opportunities are with SAGE directly, others through partner organizations SAGE promotes in the community.
Great Old Broads for Wilderness – Bitterbrush Broadband
also known as Bitterbrush Broads, Bitterbrush Broadband, Great Old Broads for Wilderness Central Oregon
Central and Eastern Oregon chapter ("Broadband") of Great Old Broads for Wilderness, a national organization led by elder women that harnesses the energy and experience of its members to protect and restore wild lands. Formed in 2013, the Bitterbrush Broads focus on advocacy, education, stewardship, and fun: protecting old-growth forests and wildlife habitat, restoring rivers, and addressing climate change, in partnership with groups like Central Oregon LandWatch and Oregon Wild.
Members join about 20 BroadWalk hikes and campouts a year from the Cascade crest to the Owyhee Canyonlands, and 3–5 BroadWorks stewardship projects: monitoring grazing and roads on public lands, restoring habitat, planting natives, and pulling noxious weeds. Others help write public comments and letters, attend BroadChats, and organize advocacy for wild lands.
Free, CDC-backed Otago fall-prevention program for older adults in Central Oregon. Participants get individual balance, strength, and mobility assessments, then a 16-week series of guided group exercise classes and home routines, delivered by trained volunteers and health education students to help people stay strong, steady, and independent in their own homes.
Volunteers serve as exercise class leaders and class helpers, support community outreach and fall-prevention education, and staff events. Training is provided, and it's a strong fit for health and fitness students as well as active adults and retirees who enjoy working with older adults.
The Alzheimer's Association Oregon & Southwest Washington Chapter, which serves the Central Oregon region, provides free care and support for people living with Alzheimer's and other dementias and their caregivers, including a 24/7 helpline, support groups, and education, while advancing research and advocacy.
Volunteers help plan and run the Walk to End Alzheimer's and other events, lead community education presentations, facilitate support groups after training, and advocate with elected officials.
Council on Aging of Central Oregon helps older adults across Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson Counties live independently and with dignity, through Meals on Wheels, community dining, the Caring Connections phone companionship program, Medicare and benefits counseling, caregiver support, and help connecting to local resources.
Volunteers deliver meals to homebound seniors through Meals on Wheels, make weekly companionship calls through the Caring Connections program, support community dining sites in Bend and Sisters, or help behind the scenes with office and fundraising tasks. Caring Connections can be done entirely by phone from home; other roles are in-person in Bend, La Pine, or Sisters.
AARP Foundation Tax-Aide (Central Oregon)
also known as Tax-Aide, AARP Tax Aide
AARP Foundation Tax-Aide offers free, in-person tax preparation for older adults and low- to moderate-income taxpayers, with no AARP membership or age requirement. In Central Oregon, its all-volunteer team, hosted by the Council on Aging of Central Oregon, served more than 2,000 people across Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson Counties in 2024, bringing nearly $2 million in refunds back to local households.
Tax-Aide is all-volunteer. Volunteers are trained and IRS-certified as tax preparers, or serve as greeters, schedulers, and site coordinators, at sites in Bend (Council on Aging and the Downtown Library), Redmond, La Pine, and Warm Springs from February to April. You don't need to be an AARP member or have tax experience; training is provided. Contact the district coordinator, Rebecca Von Stein, at rebvonstein@gmail.com.
The Peaceful Presence Project helps Central Oregonians approach the end of life with less fear and more support. Through community education and conversations about death and dying, advance care planning help, and trained end-of-life doulas who offer bedside and family support, it works to make compassionate, well-planned end-of-life care accessible to everyone.
Ways to get involved include training as an end-of-life doula to provide bedside and family support, helping with community education events and workshops on death and dying, and supporting fundraising events.
Sisters Transportation and Ride Share (STARS)
also known as STARS
Sisters Transportation and Ride Share (STARS) provides free, curb-to-curb rides to non-emergency medical appointments for Sisters Country residents who can't drive themselves, including doctor, dental, lab, and physical therapy visits in Sisters, Bend, and Redmond. Launched in 2020 as an Age Friendly Sisters Country Action Team, STARS became an independent all-volunteer nonprofit in 2024 and provided 832 round-trip rides in 2025.
Volunteer drivers use their own cars to take neighbors to medical appointments, picking up rides that fit their schedule on weekdays between 8 am and 5 pm; STARS provides training and the rides go to Sisters, Bend, and Redmond. Volunteer dispatchers take ride requests by phone and match passengers with drivers, and Spanish-speaking dispatchers are especially welcome.
Crooked River Ranch Lions Club
also known as CRR Lions
Oregon's largest Lions Club, entirely volunteer-run and serving Crooked River Ranch for more than 45 years. With no administrative costs, everything raised, largely through its community bottle and can recycling program, goes back to local and regional projects, including school vision screenings and a medical equipment loan closet for residents.
Volunteers run the ranch-wide bottle and can recycling program that funds the club, staff the medical equipment loan shed that lends hospital equipment to neighbors, give vision screenings in schools across the region, and help with fun community fundraisers like the annual golf tournament. It's a great way to meet people on the Ranch.
Central Oregon Guardian Assistance Program
also known as COGAP
Bend nonprofit providing pro bono court-appointed guardianship and conservatorship services to incapacitated adults of limited means across Central Oregon, helping people who can't make their own medical, housing, or financial decisions move out of hospitals, jails, or unsafe situations into appropriate care. It also offers community education on planning for incapacity and end-of-life decision-making.
Visitation volunteers regularly visit clients living in care facilities so they feel cared for and not forgotten, with training and shadowing provided and a background check required. Volunteers can also help with donation drives and fundraising, community outreach, and administrative support.
Oregon Department of Human Services
also known as ODHS; Oregon DHS; Oregon Dept of Human Services; DHS Volunteer Services
Oregon's state human services agency, serving children and families, older adults and people with disabilities through local offices, including offices in Central Oregon. Its Volunteer Services program is statewide and state-operated, placing volunteers to help clients, staff and local communities. ODHS also certifies resource (foster) parents and respite providers for children in foster care.
ODHS runs a statewide volunteer program placed through local offices. Roles include transporting clients, mentoring, tutoring and interpreting, child care and recreation for children, family advocacy, office assistance, seasonal programs, and supporting the independence of older adults and people with disabilities. Volunteers apply, interview with a local coordinator and pass a background check. Foster and respite care are also needed.
Tax-Aide AARP Free tax returns for Low Income /Elderly
also known as AARP Foundation Tax-Aide
AARP Foundation Tax-Aide provides free tax preparation and filing help, with a focus on older adults and taxpayers with low to moderate income. IRS-certified volunteers prepare returns at sites across Central Oregon each tax season, and no AARP membership is required to get help or to volunteer.
Volunteers help provide free tax preparation for seniors and low/middle-income taxpayers, in roles ranging from Counselors (who prepare returns directly, after IRS certification training) to Client Facilitators (who welcome and assist clients) and Technology Coordinators. No tax background is required — training and IRS certification are provided each December/January, and volunteers serve during tax season, roughly February through mid-April. No AARP membership needed.
You haven't seen them all yet. There are more organizations below.