The end of the year is approaching, and with it comes one big final bash on New Year’s Eve.
It’s also the busiest night for the volunteers with Operation Red Nose.
The volunteer service is expected to provide dozens of rides home to revelers that night across Burnaby, New Westminster and the Tri-Cities.
But help is always needed.
“New Year’s is the busiest night of the year for us, and there’s a huge demand for rides over a very short time period,” said ORN coordinator Chris Wilson.
He said the service has about 20 teams lined up for the big night, but he’s hoping to have 35 to 40 teams.
Operation Red Nose uses a team of volunteers to drive people and their cars home, for a donation.
Volunteers work in teams of three, with two driving the client in the client’s vehicle and the third following behind in another vehicle.
The money from donations goes toward KidSport and gets divided by the rides in each community.
While the use of service since its inception has risen dramatically year-over-year, that doesn’t seem to be the case for the 2015 campaign.
Wilson indicated the number of rides will probably be down by about five per cent, along with the dollar amount collected in donations.
He suggested the reasons for the decline vary, but mostly he believes people are drinking less and being more responsible by having a designated driver before they go out.
“If we’re correct and one of the reasons why the numbers are down is because people are being more responsible, I think that’s absolutely wonderful,” he said, adding the local service also hasn’t done as much promotion as years past.
So far, in the first four weekends of the campaign, volunteers have provided 236 rides in Burnaby and New Westminster, raising more than $7,700 for the two communities.
Not including the numbers from 2015, the service has raised more than $95,000 for KidSport since the start.
Operation Red Nose is entering its ninth year in the Tri-Cities but expanded to include Burnaby and New Westminster in 2012.
If you’re interested in volunteering, you can go to ORN’s website operationrednosetricities.com or [email protected].
Since a criminal records check is needed to volunteer, organizers are reminding people to fill out the application as soon as possible.
For a ride, call 778-866-6673.
