Volunteers with 225-RIDE — Senior Airman Annalisa Livingston, left, and Tech. Sgt. Rodrick Pettiway — head back to the call center after dropping someone at home. The Yokota Air Base 225-RIDE program provides free rides home to base residents who have had too much to drink. (Bryce S. Dubee / S&S)
Volunteers with 225-RIDE — Senior Airman Annalisa Livingston, left, and Tech. Sgt. Rodrick Pettiway — head back to the call center after dropping someone at home. The Yokota Air Base 225-RIDE program provides free rides home to base residents who have had too much to drink. (Bryce S. Dubee / S&S)
Senior Airman Annalisa Livingston, seated, logs in a call while Noriko Kosukegawa prepares to head out to pick someone up. (Bryce S. Dubee / S&S)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — It’s 10 o’clock on a Friday night, and while some people are heading out to the bars to kick-start their weekends, a small group of volunteers is heading out to save lives and careers.
The volunteers of 225-RIDE assemble in the first-floor day room of Building 118 next to the Samurai Café. There they wait for their first call of the night.
Operating every Friday and Saturday from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., the program exists for Yokota residents who’ve had too much to drink and need a free, dependable and confidential way to get home.
“It’s very confidential,” said Chief Master Sgt. Cathy Barker, command chief master sergeant for 374th Airlift Wing. “People know that they can call 225-RIDE and be OK.”
With direct-line phones at Fussa Gate, the Enlisted Club and the Officer’s Club, volunteers get an average of 20 calls per night, said Love Wright, one of the program coordinators. That works out to about 2,080 calls a year.
“This program prevents people from making decisions that could affect their career or cost someone their life,” Barker said.
Volunteers work either a 10 p.m.-2 a.m. shift or a 2 a.m.-6 a.m. shift. Each shift has five volunteers: two per car and a dispatcher to answer the phone.
Between calls, volunteers relax in the day room, watching television, reading and playing cards.
Many people prefer to volunteer for the 2 a.m. shift. Tech. Sgt. Rodrick Pettiway, who has volunteered a half-dozen times, says he likes the later shift because it’s busier and you spend less time sitting around.
The late-shift passengers do “tend to be a bit more interesting,” added Pettiway, of the 374th Medical Support Squadron. “But I would still rather see them in the back of that car than in the bottom of a casket.”
Wright said the frequency of calls varies depending on the time of night. Most calls come in at certain points, such as 1 a.m. — when Yokota’s off-base “Bar Row” curfew begins — and at 4 a.m. Fridays when the enlisted club closes. Payday weekends and holidays also generally are busier, she said.
For most of August, the 374th Medical Group has been providing volunteers. Noriko Kosukegawa, a 374th safety representative, and Staff Sgt. Joshua Livingston, from the 374th Medical Support Squadron, helped organize volunteers for the month.
“It was a big challenge to take on all of August, but once we got the word out it wasn’t really hard to get volunteers,” Kosukegawa said.
Wright said volunteering is open to anyone on base with a valid driver’s license, from individuals to entire units. The organization depends on the generosity of others, so contributions of time, money, refreshments for the volunteers or even a car are greatly appreciated, she said.
225-RIDE currently owns two older-model cars and relies on donations to keep them maintained and their insurance current. Because the program owns its own vehicles, volunteers do not need to do use their own cars.
E-mail 225-RIDE@yokota.af.mil if interested in helping out.
