A safe-ride fund so no soldier ever drives drunk because a cab felt like money they didn't have.
Years ago, soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry — the "Cacti" — carried a laminated card in their wallet. Been drinking? Call a cab, show the card, ride home free. The battalion staff duty desk paid the fare, every time. Arrive Alive brings that back, funded by donors instead of a battalion budget.
A driver calls the unit's staff duty desk to confirm the ride, staff duty pays on the spot — no app, no card, no automated transaction. Arrive Alive is a program of the Charlie Company Cooperative, a registered 501(c)(3) (EIN 93-3744013). Every donation is tax-deductible. Up to 3% supports the Cooperative's own operating costs; the rest funds rides.
A soldier who's been drinking and doesn't have cash for a ride is exactly the soldier who ends up driving anyway. That's a suspended license, a UCMJ action, sometimes a death — all over a fare that would've cost less than the bar tab. The old battalion Taxi Card fixed this decades ago with one rule: call, don't drive, we've got it. Arrive Alive brings that rule back for a new generation, run by an outside nonprofit so no single unit carries the cost alone.
There's no app, no card swipe, and no automated payment anywhere in this program. Every dollar moves because a real person — a unit's staff duty NCO — verified a ride by phone and chose to hand over the fare. The card and any QR code on it exist only to tell a driver "this is legitimate" — they don't unlock money on their own, and they never will without deliberately changing that.
Arrive Alive is launching as a small pilot with a single Fort Carson unit before expanding. As the fund grows, so does the list of units it covers — see the live fund page for the current numbers.
Arrive Alive is an independent program of the Charlie Company Cooperative — not funded, endorsed, or operated by the Department of Defense or any unit's official budget. The Cacti card is the inspiration, not the destination — see the Cacti regimental history.
Yes. Arrive Alive is a program of the Charlie Company Cooperative, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 93-3744013). Donations are deductible to the extent allowed by law. Right now, give via Venmo @charliecoco; for any single gift of $250 or more, email c3@charlieco.co for a written acknowledgment. Automatic tax receipts on every gift are coming once our Zeffy giving form is live.
Not yet — cabs only for the pilot. Traditional taxis pay cash on arrival, which is what lets a driver pick someone up on the strength of a phone call to staff duty. Uber and Lyft require payment through the app before they'll dispatch a driver at all, so that model doesn't carry over as-is. A rideshare option is already in the works — modern voucher tools exist that let an organization send a ride to someone with no app or card on their end — we're researching it as a phase-two addition rather than holding up the pilot to build it first.
There's no app, no card, and no automated payment anywhere in the system. Every dollar moves because a real person on staff duty verified a ride by phone and paid the driver directly. Nothing lets money move without a human deciding to hand it over.
Up to 3% supports the Cooperative's own operating costs — insurance, admin, keeping the lights on — disclosed up front and reviewed annually. The rest goes straight into the ride fund.
No. It's an independent program run by the Charlie Company Cooperative, a veteran-founded nonprofit — not funded, endorsed, or operated by the Department of Defense or any specific unit's official budget.
Arrive Alive is launching as a small pilot with a single Fort Carson unit before expanding. As the fund grows, so does the list of units it covers.
The program scales to what's actually funded — it starts with one unit's pilot float and grows as donations come in, rather than promising more than it can deliver.
Venmo @charliecoco (business profile) is the primary way to give right now — a Zeffy giving form with automatic tax receipts is coming once our nonprofit bank account is open. For any single gift of $250 or more, email c3@charlieco.co and we'll send a written acknowledgment.
A single ride home costs less than a bar tab.