NAMI Central Oregon, the local affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, provides free support, education, and advocacy for people living with mental illness and their families, including peer and family support groups, classes, and community presentations that reduce stigma and help people find hope and recovery.
Volunteering looks likeVolunteer roles include support group leaders and class teachers (with NAMI training, often people with lived experience), community presentations and outreach, local advocacy, events and fundraising, grant writing, graphic design and writing, and admin help. Read more ›
Who can volunteerGroupsCorporate / Workplace GroupsAdolescents (13–18)Adults (19+)Older adults (65+)Oregon Health Plan Hours
Bend Roots is a volunteer-powered Central Oregon nonprofit that gives local musicians a place to play and brings music education to area students. Its flagship Bend Roots Revival is a free, family-friendly festival featuring more than 100 local acts across multiple stages in Bend's midtown corridor each September. Read more ›
Volunteering looks likeThe Revival is volunteer-powered, with shifts across three nonstop days. Read more ›
Who can volunteerGroupsAdults (19+)Older adults (65+)
The Ochoco National Forest and Crooked River National Grassland, managed by the U.S. Forest Service out of Prineville, span forests, grasslands, rivers, and rimrock in Central Oregon, offering camping, hiking, fishing, hunting, and wildlife viewing on public lands.
Volunteering looks likeVolunteers help care for public lands with trail maintenance, campground hosting, cleanups, invasive weed removal, wildlife and plant surveys, and visitor information, from one-day projects to seasonal roles.
Who can volunteerGroupsAdults (19+)Older adults (65+)
The Oregon High Desert Grotto is Central Oregon's caving club, a Bend-based chapter of the National Speleological Society founded in 1989. Read more ›
Volunteering looks likeVolunteers and members help protect Central Oregon's caves through cleanups and graffiti removal, cave surveying and mapping, and photo documentation, often alongside land managers and local partners. Read more ›
Who can volunteerGroupsAdults (19+)Older adults (65+)
Heart 'n Home Hospice & Palliative Care, part of LHC Group, provides hospice and palliative care across Central Oregon from its Bend office, supporting patients with serious illness and their families with medical care, symptom management, comfort, and emotional and spiritual support. Read more ›
Volunteering looks likeVolunteers visit hospice patients at home or in care facilities, playing games or music, doing puzzles, reading, sharing stories, or just sitting together, and some help with yardwork at patients' homes. Read more ›
Who can volunteerGroupsCorporate / Workplace GroupsAdults (19+)Older adults (65+)
All-volunteer community service club welcoming women from Sunriver, La Pine, Bend, and beyond, combining social connection with serious philanthropy. Read more ›
Volunteering looks likeA 100% volunteer organization logging more than 10,000 hours a year. Anyone can help staff Kids' Day and July 4th ticket booths in the Village at Sunriver, the Community Picnic, and the Sunriver Art Fair. Read more ›
Who can volunteerFamiliesGroupsAdults (19+)Older adults (65+)
Meissner Nordic Ski Club maintains the groomed cross-country ski trails at Virginia Meissner Sno-Park west of Bend, about 47 kilometers of free, community-supported trails with warming shelters, and organizes Nordic ski events and races. Read more ›
Volunteering looks likeVolunteers keep Meissner running: helping with summer trail and grooming prep, maintaining the warming shelters, staffing the sno-park on busy days, and helping with ski events, races, and youth programs. Read more ›
Who can volunteerFamiliesGroupsAdolescents (13–18)Adults (19+)Older adults (65+)
Around the Bend Farms is a Central Oregon nonprofit farm working to increase access to fresh, locally grown, nutrient-dense food. From its Braided Roots farm in Deschutes River Woods south of Bend and its AVO farm in Madras, it runs a CSA program, builds custom gardens, and through its Grow Hope, Nourish Community effort grows food for neighbors who need it most.
Volunteering looks likeFarm volunteers get their hands in the soil at the Braided Roots farm in Deschutes River Woods and the AVO farm in Madras, helping with seeding, planting, weeding, harvesting, and other seasonal work that turns seeds into food for neighbors. Read more ›
Who can volunteerGroupsCorporate / Workplace GroupsAdults (19+)Older adults (65+)
The Sisters Rodeo Association produces the Sisters Rodeo, billed as "The Biggest Little Show in the World," a PRCA professional rodeo held each June since 1940 at its arena just outside Sisters. Read more ›
Volunteering looks likeThe Sisters Rodeo is put on almost entirely by volunteers. Each June, community members help with gates and ticketing, parking, ushering, concessions, the Sisters Rodeo Parade, the kids' events, and arena and grounds work, and many return year after year. Read more ›
Who can volunteerGroupsAdolescents (13–18)Adults (19+)Older adults (65+)
Central Oregon Locavore is a Bend nonprofit, founded in 2009, that runs the region's only year-round indoor farmers market, selling food grown and raised by Central Oregon farmers and ranchers seven days a week. Read more ›
Volunteering looks likeVolunteers help run the indoor farmers market and community events, and join WWOLF (Willing Workers on Local Farms) work parties that send small groups out to local farms and ranches to help with planting, harvesting… Read more ›
Who can volunteerGroupsAdults (19+)Older adults (65+)
Downtown Bend's holiday parade has filled the streets with lights, music, and floats for more than 40 years, winding from Harmon Boulevard through downtown to Drake Park each December. Anyone can enter. Read more ›
Volunteering looks likeMore than 100 volunteers make the parade happen each December: coordinating entries, managing the lineup, handling publicity and safety, writing announcer scripts, judging floats, and serving as marshals. Read more ›
Who can volunteerGroupsAdults (19+)Older adults (65+)
Bend Fall Festival celebrates autumn in downtown Bend each October with local artisans and craftspeople, live music, food vendors, and family-friendly activities, drawing thousands of visitors to the heart of the city. Read more ›
Volunteering looks likeVolunteers help run the festival in shifts covering setup and teardown, entry and guest services, and vendor and beer garden support. Read more ›
Who can volunteerGroupsAdults (19+)Older adults (65+)