Who Can Volunteer
Corporate and Workplace Volunteer Opportunities
Matching organizations, in a different order on every visit
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.
Think Wild is Central and Eastern Oregon's only public wildlife hospital and conservation center, located on four acres on Bend's east side. Its veterinary staff and volunteers rescue, treat, and release hundreds of injured and orphaned native animals each year, from hummingbirds and flying squirrels to bald eagles and bobcats. Think Wild also runs a wildlife hotline, humane wildlife conflict help, Beaver Works Oregon habitat restoration, and education programs and camps for youth and the community. Found injured or orphaned wildlife? Call the hotline at 541-241-8680 (8am–6pm daily).
Volunteers help in the wildlife hospital with animal care, diet prep, and enclosure upkeep; rescue and transport injured wildlife; care for ambassador animals; support education programs, camps, and community events; and assist with humane wildlife conflict projects. Youth and family volunteering is available for kids and teens, and families and groups can join habitat restoration through Beaver Works Oregon. Training is provided.
Heart of Oregon Corps empowers young people ages 16–24 through jobs, job training, education, and service to Central Oregon communities. Its programs include YouthBuild, where youth build affordable homes while continuing their education, the High Desert and Central Oregon Youth Conservation Corps, Camp LEAD, and Food Heroes. Since 2000, it has served more than 4,750 youth who are disconnected from school and work.
Volunteers can mentor a young person working to build job skills and finish their education, join the Employer Advisory Council to connect Corps members with local employers and careers, or serve on the Board of Directors (two seats are reserved for program alumni, and no prior board experience is needed). General volunteer opportunities are also available through the inquiry form.
Central Oregon Volunteer Connect
also known as COVC, Volunteer Connect, Volunteer Central Oregon
Central Oregon Volunteer Connect is a program of Connect Central Oregon representing one of their four pillars - alongside Mentoring, Innovation, and Partnership. It's a regional infrastructure, shaped and stewarded by community leaders over more than two decades connecting organizations, volunteers, emerging leaders, and community energy across Central Oregon. Along with direct partnership outreach across the region, most notably the Connect Central Oregon Volunteer & Board Fair — the in-person event connecting volunteers and organizations face to face, their Volunteer Central Oregon directory allows browsing or searching to find organizations across Crook, Deschutes, and Jefferson Counties, and Warm Springs looking for volunteers, donors, and community partners.
Connect Central Oregon is always looking for leaders who want to help connect individuals, groups, and organizations to each other and strengthen our community. One of the most important roles within the entire organization, serving as a "Connector" represents the very purpose of ConnectCO and serves as the primary method of our community engagement...using very literally every resource ConnectCO and its leadership team have to offer.
Furnish Hope is a Bend-based nonprofit furniture bank working to end furniture poverty in Central Oregon. It collects gently used furniture and household essentials and delivers them to individuals and families moving into stable housing, turning empty houses into furnished homes that foster permanency, comfort, and pride. Its boutique resale store, Furnish Hope & Home, along with home staging and design services, helps fund the mission.
Volunteers drive and co-pilot furniture deliveries, connect with recipients as community liaisons, gather and sort donations at the donation center, staff the Furnish Hope & Home resale store, and help remotely with admin work, events, and fundraising. Regular weekly shifts are offered, many roles don't require heavy lifting, and groups can schedule a team volunteer day.
The High Desert Stampede, in partnership with the Central Oregon community, exists to bring a top tier rodeo experience unlike any other in the Northwest to Central Oregon. To achieve this, they bring the best athletes and livestock together each year continuing an annual tradition of recognizing and promoting the western way of life, western heritage, and sense of community.
Volunteers help run the rodeo through roles like ticketing, hospitality and guest services, event setup and teardown, parking and shuttle operations, horse stall assignments, sponsor relations, security, and social media or photography support.
BendNEXT Foundation
also known as Leadership Bend Foundation
The BendNEXT Foundation is the 501(c)(3) arm of the Bend Chamber of Commerce. Originally the Leadership Bend Foundation (1997), it was renamed in 2019 and runs the Chamber's leadership and workforce programs, including Leadership Bend, Bend Emerging Talent, NEXTUp Leaders, and the Bend 101 community orientation series, along with Chamber-led initiatives on workforce housing and childcare.
Community members support BendNEXT programs by serving on the Bend Emerging Talent Ambassador and Advisory Council, mentoring in its mentorship circles, speaking to Leadership Bend and Bend 101 cohorts, helping at program events, and joining working groups on workforce housing and childcare. Employers can sponsor participants and scholarships.
Kiwanis Club of Redmond
also known as Redmond Kiwanis
Serving children in the Redmond area since 1937. The Kiwanis Club of Redmond funds scholarships, sponsors Key Clubs at Redmond and Ridgeview high schools, and takes on community projects for kids. Its current effort is the Kiwanis Hub Park, an inclusive playground at Redmond's new Hub aquatic and recreation center, boosted in 2026 by a $25,000 Kiwanis International grant.
Members volunteer on youth-focused service projects, highway cleanups, scholarship programs, and big community builds, and help run fundraisers like the annual Vintner's Dinner & Auction. The club advises the Key Clubs at Redmond and Ridgeview high schools, so there are ways for teens to serve too. Visitors are welcome at weekly lunch meetings.
Art in the High Desert is a juried fine art and fine craft show held each August along the Deschutes River in Bend's Old Mill District. Run by artists for artists, it brings more than 100 artists from across North America to Central Oregon and is ranked among the top art shows in the country, with volunteers helping make the show happen.
Volunteers help staff the show across setup, show days, and teardown — greeting artists and the public, staffing information points, and generally keeping things running smoothly. Shifts are typically 3-hour blocks, and you can bring family or friends to volunteer together.
Redmond Rod & Gun Club is Central Oregon's public shooting range, operating since 1945 and run entirely by volunteers. The range offers rifle and pistol, practical shooting, cowboy action, sporting clays, 5-stand, trap, and archery, along with new shooter orientation and youth and women's programs.
The club is completely volunteer-run. Volunteers serve as range safety officers at the rifle and pistol range, staff the sporting clays office and course, help customers in the office areas, maintain the range, join work parties, and help with marketing. Businesses and groups are welcome to get involved.
Marine Corps League – Central Oregon Detachment #1308
also known as MCL Detachment 1308, Central Oregon Marine Corps League, Central Oregon Holiday Toy Drive
Central Oregon's detachment of the Marine Corps League, bringing together honorably discharged Marines and Navy corpsmen for fellowship and service. When Toys for Tots paused its Central Oregon operations in 2025, the detachment relaunched the region's holiday toy drive as the Central Oregon Holiday Toy Drive, with Summit Health and Central Oregon Veterans Outreach, keeping gifts under the tree for thousands of local kids. It also hosts the annual Marine Corps Birthday Ball in Bend each November.
The detachment runs the Central Oregon Holiday Toy Drive, and anyone can help: hosting a toy drop box at a business, running a drive or fundraiser, picking up toys from collection sites, and sorting and distributing gifts to families in December. Marines and Navy corpsmen can join the League itself and help with veterans events and the annual Marine Corps Birthday Ball.
Cascade Relays
also known as Cascade Lakes Race Group
Cascade Relays is a small, family-run event company in Bend founded by Scott and Carrie Douglass, who grew up in Bend and married five days before the first Cascade Lakes Relay in August 2008. It produces the Cascade Lakes Relay, Bend Beer Chase, Big Butte Challenge, and other community events, and through its nonprofit arm, the Cascade Relays Foundation, has given more than $890,000 to over 60 local charities.
Hundreds of volunteers make Cascade Relays events happen each year, and every volunteer hour is tied directly to donations for local nonprofits, schools, and community groups. Fill out the volunteer form, pick an event and a charity partner to support, and you'll be matched with a shift. It's a fun way to give back, make new friends, and join the Cascade Relays family.
You haven't seen them all yet. There are more organizations below.