Holiday season safe ride service is back for 8th year in Saskatoon

Operation Red Nose is back for another holiday season after officially kicking off their 2019 campaign on Tuesday.

The safe-ride service , that gets you and your vehicle home after a night out, is in operation every Friday and Saturday from November 29th until December 31st and takes calls between nine p.m. and two a.m.

The program is entirely volunteer run and instead of charging for their services, only asks for donations that all go towards youth sport initiatives in the city.

“It’s not really fair to say it’s free, because somebody is paying. The first couple of years, our Lions Club took a hit, and some people take advantage of that,” said Tom Armstrong, Secretary of Millenium Lion’s Club and sponsor organizer for Operation Red Nose.

“Last year I took a run out to Martensville and a gentleman handed me 100 dollars. It was worth it for him, not to lose his license, not to take that chance. What’s the value to you, that’s how you’ve got to look at it.”

Armstrong said they like to have at least 30 volunteers for each night they are operating which equals 10 teams, but more are welcome. A team includes two people who ride in the customers vehicle with them and a third who picks them up from the destination.

“First of all you have to apply to be a volunteer for operation Red Nose. You go through a police check and your license is of course validated that you are a licensed driver and that’s all it takes. It takes a couple of days to get cleared and anyone could be a volunteer,” said Armstrong.

This is the 11th year that the province is participating in Operation Red Nose and the 8th year Saskatoon is participating. Other Saskatchewan cities that have the service include the Battlefords, Prince Albert and Yorkton.

Armstrong says over his eight years volunteering with the program they have raised over 9,000 dollars that has gone to Ronald McDonald House, Saskatoon Lions speed skating, and Saskatoon Lions Band.

He said that he doesn’t believe other ride-sharing services, like Uber, will affect the amount they are able to raise because they offer a different type of service.

“Uber doesn’t take your car home,” he said.

“A lot of people don’t want to leave their car to be frozen, to be vandalized, so no I don’t think it’s going to hurt us. And there are other groups that do this for profit. We’re just another alternative to get home safely and get your car home as well.”

It’s clear how much volunteering for this service each year means to Armstrong, and according to him all it takes to get a service like this going in other communities is a committed group of people.

“I spent a career, 35 years as a locomotive engineer and I didn’t have a lot of time at home so this is how I give back to my community,” he said.

“All you need to have is a core group, much like our Lions club to say, this is a good thing let’s step it up in our community and do something.”

Operation Red Nose has an app available for download that has all of their important information needed to use their service.

The number for this service is 639-480-NOSE (6673).

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to remove Regina from the cities where Operation Red Nose will be available this year