We have administrators and volunteers in all states. We have multiple administrators in some states, while some share administrators across some states. We count with thousands of volunteers in some states, hundreds in others, and dozens in a few. We are still growing.
We do not charge for recoveries. Our efforts are 100% volunteer based. We don’t compete with towing services.
How does this work?
When somebody requests assistance either by contacting our emergency line: 503-877-5263 or by using our online form: offroadportal.org/recovery one of our administrators will get a notification and will start talking to the requester to verify the contact information, the situation’s detail, the GPS location and to gather some photos.
Once the administrator vets the request, it is passed to volunteers. Initially, administrators will invite volunteers within a 20/30 miles radius. In certain areas, we might expand rapidly to a 50/100 miles radius depending on the number of volunteers available.
Our Chat Room or Lobby
Once volunteers click on the link they receive by text message, they will land in our chat room—a special custom page designed to discuss the recovery and coordinate among other volunteers invited.
On this page, you have four tabs on the top portion, showing INFO, VOLUNTEERS, MAP, and PHOTOS.
The INFO panel contains the basic contact information, location, and details. The VOLUNTEERS panel lists volunteers who were invited and responded to the text. Once volunteers are marked as Engaging or Standing by, their phone number will be visible to anybody in this chat room. The MAP displays a graphical location of the incident, and finally, under PHOTOS, you will see pictures submitted by the requester when available.
Volunteers are not under any obligation to participate. We encourage volunteers to team up to work on recoveries. Once volunteers are marked as engaged, they will also receive a text message for every message sent in the chat room. They can reply, and their response will be added to the chat room. They can also share pictures in their responses to illustrate a particular situation.
Once a volunteer or several volunteers are en route, the background on the chatroom will be green. This easily reflects the recovery is underway.
Finally, once a recovery was completed or canceled for any circumstance, it will be marked as DONE. (Upper right corner, check box). Any volunteer can close or re-open a recovery. Administrators will be notified. And the background of the chat room will be gray.
Remember that the chat room information is sometimes shared with the requester. Recently we added a feature allowing administrators to invite the requester to participate in the chat room to answer questions and coordinate with the volunteers.
Thanks for being a volunteer!