SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — There's something about taking the road less traveled.
"I had done volunteering in the past, but it was always kind of shift based. And this one looked pretty flexible," said Micah Collins, a Road To Recovery volunteer.
That flexible volunteering for Collins is the Road To Recovery program from the American Cancer Society. It's a program that's hitting the road again after coming to stop due to the pandemic.
"We're really excited to have the program back up next week - November 8 is the target date - to have our volunteers ready to drive our patients to their life saving appointments," said Demy West, Senior Program Manager for Cancer Control at American Cancer Society.
West told ABC 10News in 2019, there were more than 6,000 rides requested by the American Cancer Society. At the start of the pandemic, it trickled down to just about 300 before road to recovery shut down.
However, Collins has another thing driving him to be a part of this mission. He is a scientist at a cancer research group in San Diego.
"Yeah, it's pretty special being able to spend before going to work or after going to work helping someone directly who has cancer,” said Collins.
Organizers are looking for more volunteers to participate in the program. Volunteers are required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and follow new guidelines for driving patients.
West said the new guidelines are giving them new twists and turns to handle.
"Having volunteers be more a little bit more savvy with using technology to do the updated training and the new COVID requirements, I lost a quarter of my volunteers to onboard,” said West.
As volunteers and the American Cancer Society are revving their engines to start driving again, there's hope that more people will get behind the wheel to help others.
"We were never essentially flush with volunteers, the more we can get the better,” said Collins.
If you’re looking for more information on how to become a volunteer for the program, you can visit www.cancer.org or call 1-800-227-2345.
