My Nonprofit Reviews

When I first heard about RightRides' Mission, namely to provide women and LGBTQ individuals safe passage home at a time when gender-based violence is on the rise in NY, I was immediately interested. With a rash of violence directed toward women and LGBT people in the news recently, I wanted to do something to help alleviate the problem. Everyone deserves the piece of mind to be sure that when they leave somewhere late at night, they will make it home without harassment or danger of physical harm. That's what RightRides does: provides free rides, late at night to mitigate the threat violence to people who are unfortunately targeted with relative frequency. Along with a friend we signed up for a brief and easy training to familiarize us with the different duties and responsibilities of Drivers and Navigators. After the training session we were eager to start our first shift hauling people around late night Friday and Saturday. From my very first shift I knew this was an organization worth championing. First and (perhaps selfishly), the volunteering time itself is FUN! You get to drive around and explore parts of New York and the burroughs that you never would by foot, you meet interesting and friendly people, and you have the satisfaction of knowing that they all got home safe after a long night. I just finished training as a Dispatcher, which unlike the Driver and Navigator duties, you can complete from home. I'm looking forward to filing some time as Dispatcher to help field calls and direct teams to people that need to be picked up. RightRides is wonderful organization with a (small but growing) team of wonderful volunteers and organizers united by the belief that no one should have to constantly look over their shoulder out of fear of harm just because they're trying to get home and happen to be "different" (whether it's a difference of sex, gender, gender conformity, sexuality, etc.).

More Feedback