Keeping the roads safe this Christmas, ‘Operation Red Nose’ kicks off in Lethbridge

MADD Canada statistics revealed that on average four Canadians are killed and more than 170 are injured every day from crashes caused by impaired drivers.

But this holiday season one local campaign is hoping to keep those numbers to a minimum with the kickoff of the 24th annual “Operation Red Nose.”

“It’s a different experience, it’s fun and it’s also good to provide that service to the community and make sure people get home safe,” said Eoin Colquhoun, manager of communications with the University of Lethbridge Pronghorn Athletics.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's a different experience, it's fun and it's also good to provide that service to the community and make sure people get home safe," said Eoin Colquhoun, manager of communications with the University of Lethbridge Pronghorn Athletics.

The University of Lethbridge Pronghorn Athletics department hosts the event each year, where student athletes and volunteers offer sober rides home in the customer’s vehicles.

“It’s a great community initiative,” said Colquhoun. “It gets our athletes out in the community while acting as one of our biggest fundraisers of the year.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's a great community initiative," said Colquhoun. "It gets our athletes out in the community while acting as one of our biggest fundraisers of the year."

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The service is free of charge, however, donations to the Athletics Department are accepted over the course of the campaign.

“All the money goes back to the programs themselves, and over the 24 years we’re well over $725,000 raised,” said Colquhoun.

“It serves a big chunk of our budgets that our teams have throughout the year.”

In 2017, with the help of 753 volunteers, the month-long event provided more than 900 safe rides home. Organizers hope the campaign can see similar success again this year, but with some out-of-town student athletes returning home for the holidays, organizers added they’re always in search of more volunteers to help meet local demands.

“The weekend of Dec. 20, we will have a shortage of student athletes on campus as they’re starting to head home for Christmas, so we will really need some volunteers from the community on that weekend,” Colquhoun said.

“New Year’s Eve is also always a big night for us,” Colquhoun added. “I don’t think we can ever have too many volunteers for that night.”

For anyone wanting to volunteer their time to Operation Red Nose this December, volunteer forms can be found online at www.gohorns.ca

Officially kicking off on Nov. 30, the service will run on Friday and Saturday evenings from 9:30 p.m. until 3 a.m., and can be accessed by calling (403) 320-4155.

Operation Red Nose will wrap up this year on Dec. 31.