Thompsonites attending Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties will have one fewer option for a safe ride home this December because Operation Red Nose is cancelled for 2020.
The program, which offers people who have been drinking rides home in their own cars and is provided by volunteers, won’t be operating in Brandon, Flin Flon, Gimli, Portage la Prairie, Selkirk, Shilo, St. Malo, The Pas or Winnipeg this year either. The host organization in La Broquerie has not yet made a decision on whether to proceed or not.
“The safety of our volunteers and clients is and has always been our priority,” said a Sept. 18 new release from the provincial Operation Red Nose committee.
Operation Red Nose has been operating in Manitoba for 25 years and last year was the 21st consecutive year of the designated driver program being offered in Thompson.
Thompson volunteers gave 355 rides and received more than $8,000 in donations in late November and December 2019, the fourth-highest totals in the province in each of those categories. They also had the fifth-most volunteers, with 195.
