Anyone who has taken advantage of the program knows the purpose of RamRide –– to give students a safe ride home.

Many RamRiders, however, do not experience the process as a passenger. Various clubs, teams and individuals from the CSU community work as dispatchers, drivers and navigators to make RamRide possible every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. Many have countless stories to tell from the experience.

“My co-pilot, Chris Hooyman, and I did a cash cab sort of deal with all the people we picked up, but it was a candy cab. So we gave out candy to people for answering trivia and if they risked it all they got a king sized candy bar at the end,” said Steve Karas, a member of the men’s rugby team who volunteered in Spring of 2012.

“A lot of people were laughing and having a good time and enjoying their typical RamRide home in the candy cab,” Karas said. “Majority of people liked it, there were people yelling and getting into it so it made it really fun.”

The men’s rugby team at CSU had most of the team out that night and had enough volunteers to occupy about half of the RamRide fleet. The team not only offered their time as a way to fulfill community service hours but also to lend a hand to their fellow Rams in need.

“I think a lot of (volunteers) go into it with a bad mindset like, ‘Oh I gotta go do RamRide and be up until three driving drunk kids around,’ but I think you just have to have fun with it,” Karas said.

It is because of those who step up and volunteer that our campus community can allow programs like RamRide and enable students to stay safe while getting home if they are slightly impaired.

“Our volunteers are the backbone of RamRide, that’s the only reason we can provide as many rides home as we do each weekend,” said RamRide Director Chelsey Green.

While drivers have direct interaction with fellow students, dispatchers also find ways to connect during their RamRide experience.

 “I’ve driven and done dispatch for RamRide. I had this one girl that called three times in one night and I got her calls all three times. It was really funny and we bonded over the night that way. She was at a concert I went to the night before so we talked about it,” said Ben Wolf, a frequent RamRide volunteer.

With lasting memories, RamRide volunteers find it beneficial to help out with the program.

“It’s a good thing you’re doing and you’re helping a lot of people out so if you have the right mindset for it, its a great thing,” Karas said.

Collegian ASCSU Beat Reporter Lauren Rullman can be reached at news@collegian.com.