Operation Red Nose hit the streets for the first time this holiday season this past weekend.
At Monday’s City Council Meeting, the Program’s Chair for this season, Ken Pendergast, gave an update on the program’s first weekend.
“These people are suffering from a syndrome, much like Cabin Fever, after these past two years, and some reliable authorities in our city tell us they are really ready to party this year,” Pendergast said.
“The local RCMP tell us the number of drinking drivers infractions have increased seriously in Prince George this fall.”
During their first two nights, Pendergast said the amount of rides they had to give differed each night.
“Friday night, we only did ten rides, the only other time that we’ve done ten rides in the first night of the program was 2008,” Pendergast said.
“On Saturday night, we did 34 rides, so we’re back on the crest again, and we anticipate over the next six nights to build every night, and of course, New Year’s Eve is absolutely crazy.”
He added that on Saturday, they only had seven teams, and if they had more rides, they would’ve had difficulty responding to clients in a reasonable time.
“We have an awful lot of volunteers that have come out year after year, after year. It takes approximately 300 volunteers to make this program work,” he said.
“If it wasn’t for the fact that many of these people are multi-volunteers in terms of multi-nights of coming out, we would be in deep trouble.”
Pendergast also challenged Mayor Yu and the rest of City Council to volunteer for the program.
The volunteer-run service will operate for the next three Fridays and Saturdays, as well as on New Years Eve.
To call Operation Red Nose for a ride, call 250-962-7433.
An application to volunteer for the service can be found on the Operation Red Nose website here.
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