STARS - Sisters Transportation and Ride Share

09/05/2026

Benevolence. Compassion. Generosity. Goodwill.

Today is the International Day of Charity, a perfect time to reflect on your own community and your ability to help.Giving takes many forms. By sharing your time, skills, or resources with STARS, you help keep our Sisters Country neighbors connected to the care they need.



Visit starsride.org to find out how you can help. ❤️

09/05/2026

STARS is hiring its next Executive Director! This is a meaningful opportunity to lead a respected local nonprofit, support an extraordinary volunteer team, and help keep healthcare within reach for our Sisters Country neighbors. We are excited to add our first paid staff member. It is a new chapter for our organization.

Learn more, apply, or share with someone who would be a great fit: starsride.org/ed-hiring

08/05/2026

Thank you to Jim Cornelius and The Nugget Newspaper for the wonderful shout-out to our volunteers!

Whether they drive for one hour a month or ten, or answer the phones once or three times, every contribution helps us provide safe, free, and reliable transportation to Sisters Country residents who can no longer drive.

Our volunteers make our mission possible, and we are deeply grateful for their time, compassion, and dedication to our community.

Read the article:

There may be nothing more satisfying than giving your neighbors help that you know is materially improving their quality of life. Volunteers with STARS have that satisfaction. Sisters Transportation and Ride Share launched in March 2020 with a mission "to provide non-emergency medical rides to Siste...

07/27/2026

Since July 16, as wildfire evacuations disrupted life across our community, one thing never changed—our STARS volunteers' commitment to serving others.

While many Sisters residents were focused on protecting their homes and families, our volunteer dispatchers continued answering the phones and coordinating rides. Our volunteer drivers continued taking passengers to their non-emergency medical appointments. Although some riders understandably chose to cancel their appointments, those who needed to be seen by their healthcare providers were there because STARS volunteers made it happen.

Perhaps most remarkable, some of our volunteers were serving our passengers even after being evacuated from their own homes.

That kind of dedication speaks volumes about the people who make STARS possible.

To every dispatcher, driver, and volunteer who put the needs of others first during these challenging days, we offer our deepest gratitude and admiration. Your compassion, resilience, and unwavering commitment ensured that some of our community's most vulnerable residents continued to receive the medical care they needed.

You truly demonstrated what it means to be neighbors helping neighbors.

STARS Volunteers—you are champions, and we salute you! 🏆❤️

06/23/2026

🚗 Drive Local. Make a Big Difference.

Interested in volunteering with STARS but don't want to make regular trips to Redmond or Bend? That's perfectly okay!

So far this year, STARS has provided nearly 70 round-trip rides to medical appointments right here in Sisters. These local rides don't take as much time, but they are just as vital to the health and independence of our community members.

A short drive across town can mean the difference between someone getting the care they need or missing an important appointment.

You choose when and how often you volunteer. Every ride matters, and every driver makes a difference.

Join us in helping neighbors stay healthy, independent, and connected to care.

Learn more about becoming a volunteer driver at www.starsride.org/drive-for-us.

06/12/2026

STARS is excited to once again participate in the Rodeo Parade! Our volunteers—drivers, dispatchers, and board members—will be marching and handing out candy. Give us a wave, and consider joining our volunteer team.

There is a growing demand for rides in our beloved Sisters community, which means we need more dispatchers to answer phones and more drivers to provide free transportation to non-emergency medical appointments.

You set your own schedule and can volunteer as much or as little as you'd like. Join us in making a difference by helping neighbors stay healthy, independent, and connected to the care they need.
To volunteer, visit https://www.starsride.org/drive-for-us or https://www.starsride.org/dispatch-for-us. STARS reimburses for mileage.

Sisters Transportation and Ride Share has the proud mission of “Keeping Sisters Healthy One Ride at a Time!”

05/19/2026

Join us for a very fun and fundraising night of Bingo! Thanks to the generosity of the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, STARS will receive the proceeds from a 50/50 raffle. And, each time they call B6, (6 is our number of years in service), we get an additional $25. Come and have fun, bring your friends, and support a popular and vital Sisters Country nonprofit. We will see you there, June 5th at 5:00! 121 Brooks Camp Road.

We need more drivers to meet our community’s growing needs. To volunteer, visit https://www.starsride.org/drive-for-us. STARS reimburses for mileage.

Sisters Transportation and Ride Share has the proud mission of “Keeping Sisters Healthy One Ride at a Time!”

04/30/2026

Throughout April, we have highlighted the personal benefits to those who choose to donate their time and talents as volunteers. Our passengers have long touted the benefits they reap from receiving reliable, free rides to their non-emergency medical appointments. They enjoy the company of the drivers, the ease of working with dispatchers who schedule their rides, and most of all, the ability to attend the medical appointments that keep them living independently.

Think about how important it is to live independently for as long as you can. Sisters Country has many attributes, but we do not have assisted living here. We at STARS want our neighbors to flourish in their homes. Ordering groceries and meals delivered to their homes helps non-drivers stay in place, but we cannot have a medical lab test, a procedure, or a doctor’s visit be delivered. Instead, we pull must together to help those in need of rides to scheduled medical appointments. It’s a joyous commitment and a practical solution to a community-wide problem. Come and pull together with us. We hope our posts will inspire you to join in and experience the good feelings that come from connecting authentically with the neighbor or new friend who needs our service. When we help our riders to get to medical appointments, we are helping them to stay independent and thriving. It helps us who volunteer to thrive, as well. To volunteer, visit https://www.starsride.org/drive-for-us or https://www.starsride.org/dispatch-for-us. STARS reimburses for mileage.

Sisters Transportation and Ride Share has the proud mission of “Keeping Sisters Healthy One Ride at a Time!”

04/29/2026

TO PROTECT AND TO SERVE...meet Chris West, STARS Volunteer, pictured here with a doughnut!
After 25 years as an officer on the Los Angeles Police Department, the police mission statement was ingrained in Chris’s personality. A very popular volunteer driver, Chris has found his way to continue “to serve” his community. To his passengers, he is famous for his conversational skills and for his treat of doughnuts for his passengers! When asked what keeps him driving, Chris answered, “Doing the right thing. It’s not that tedious to figure out how to do the right thing. All of my passengers are so grateful, and so are the medical professionals they visit. You get to hear people’s stories. Meeting a new person is meeting someone full of stories you haven’t heard yet.” When talking to Chris about his trips with STARS passengers, it is clear that the role brings him joy and fulfillment. His passengers are helped to have healthier and independent lives, and Chris flourishes in his role.

A big shout out to all of our volunteers. There would not be a STARS with Chris West and the whole team of generous folks. A big shout out to STARS itself. We are one of a kind, being the only ride share in the US that is 100% free to our passengers and powered by volunteers!

We hope our posts will inspire you to join in and experience the good feelings that come from connecting authentically with the neighbor or new friend who needs our service. When we help our riders to get to medical appointments, we are helping them to stay independent and thriving. It helps us who volunteer to thrive, as well. To volunteer, visit https://www.starsride.org/drive-for-us or https://www.starsride.org/dispatch-for-us. STARS reimburses for mileage.

Sisters Transportation and Ride Share has the proud mission of “Keeping Sisters Healthy One Ride at a Time!”

04/25/2026

The benefits of volunteering are far-reaching and varied, from feelings of joy to a satisfaction that one’s efforts have really paid off. STARS volunteer, John Finley, fits into the second category. In addition to his efforts making him happy, John talks about a sense of satisfaction, saying, “I've met a lot of members of the community whom I would not have met without STARS, both through my driving STARS passengers and my role as driver manager. STARS has allowed me to utilize some of my IT technical skills to help build the back-end software platform we are using, guide the operational direction of the organization by helping develop policies and procedures, and create a well-oiled operation that has been running remarkably smoothly since we became an independent 501(c)(3) organization.”

Like many members of the Operations Team of STARS, John has put in numerous hours, assuring that the organization is strong and that it will be here in years to come. It is a goal that all of us work toward. Those who drive, dispatch, troubleshoot, write grants, and plan for the future need your participation, now more than ever. STARS is growing because the need is growing in our community. STARS wants you on our team. We hope our posts will inspire you to join in and experience the good feelings that come from connecting authentically with the neighbor or new friend who needs our service. When we help our riders to get to medical appointments, we are helping them to stay independent and thriving. It helps us who volunteer to thrive, as well. To volunteer, visit https://www.starsride.org/drive-for-us or https://www.starsride.org/dispatch-for-us. STARS pays for mileage reimbursement.

Sisters Transportation and Ride Share has the proud mission of “Keeping Sisters Healthy One Ride at a Time!”