Operation Red Nose needs drivers

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This article was published 30/12/2014 (4167 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Christmas may be over, but Rudolph is asking for a little extra help this holiday season.

Operation Red Nose is looking for about 100 more volunteers for New Year’s Eve to ensure its service, which provides alternative transportation by offering a safe ride to and from parties, runs optimally through one of the busiest nights of the year.

“It’s normal (to be short leading up to New Year’s Eve),” said Sharra Hinton, co-ordinator at Operation Red Nose. “It’s certainly our busiest night of the year, with an expected 250 calls right after what we call crunch time, just after midnight.”

Hinton said the program currently has about 50 volunteers but needs another 100 more to put together 50, three-member drive teams.

“It keeps the wait down for people who access the service,” she said.

The ideal wait time is 30 to 45 minutes, but when short on staff, that wait can increase to an hour-and-a-half to two hours.

“The risk and the worry with increased wait times is that people get impatient,” Hinton said.

Hinton said Operation Red Nose will drive partygoers from location to location if needed.

“It’s about keeping people safe,” she said.

The program is a free initiative put on annually by Safety Services Manitoba and Manitoba Public Insurance. Donations are accepted, with proceeds going to support youth services across the province.

“Volunteers are never sure coming in what to expect,” Hinton said.

“But they feel good after they’ve done it and they find it very rewarding.”

For more information on the program and to volunteer, call: 204-794-7339 or visit rednosewpg.ca.

sbilleck@freepress.mb.ca