RamRide volunteers celebrated the 14th birthday of Colorado State University’s safe ride service.

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, RamRide gave away slices of birthday cake, RamRide merchandise and various beverages like cider and coffee to any passing students on the Plaza. Students who had the RamRide app on their phone could also get a candy bar.

“On our birthday, we always come with cake and hot chocolate and coffee, just to give back to the students who have volunteered and kept us running for 14 years,” said Emma Reece, the community outreach coordinator for RamRide. “The reason we’re still here is because people still want to volunteer, and they still take us every weekend.”

According to Tom Walker, the data analysis coordinator for RamRide, the service gets about 106 volunteers every weekend, making for about 2,500 volunteers per year.

But, students did not have to volunteer to join the celebration. A line of roughly 25 students had formed by the time all the refreshments had been set up.

“I think (RamRide is) a good resource for students,” said Dimas Hornbuckle, a junior neuroscience major. “It’s good for students who don’t have a license or can’t be trusted with a license.”

RamRide was started Oct. 23, 2003, by the Associated Students of CSU as an effort to provide a free, safe, nonjudgmental ride home service for CSU students.

Since then, the program has served 300,000 patrons over its first 13 years, launching its own app and planning to host the Safe Ride Programs United Conference in 2019.

According to Walker, RamRide give rides to an average 1,200 students per weekend or 30,000 students per year.

“I know that we believe we are very important because we make Fort Collins as a community safer for all our students,” Walker said.

Collegian reporter Samantha Ye can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @samxye4.