Ottawa drivers will have an alternative way of making it home safely this month after a night of imbibing.
Operation Red Nose is a volunteer-run campaign that offers a free designated-driver service. The operation officially launched early last month and is scheduled to run throughout December.
Dave van Vlaanderen, co-ordinator for Operation Red Nose in Ottawa, says he tried to volunteer for the operation in Gatineau, but it was too late in the year to do so.
He says he was surprised there was no Ottawa branch.
“I was talking to the Ontario Safety League,” he says.“They gave me permission to go ahead and start looking into getting things started up here in Ottawa.”
Clients who call Operation Red Nose are set up with a team of three volunteers, van Vlaanderen says. One drives the client’s vehicle to his or her desired location with another volunteer in the passenger seat. The third volunteer follows in a separate car to take all three volunteers back to base once the client has arrived at his or her destination safely.
The service is free, but users are encouraged to make a donation to the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa. Various corporate sponsors, including Ottawa-area gas retailer MacEwen, are backing Operation Red Nose.
Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi attended last month's launch and says the operation is “a good, safe alternative way of getting people home.”
“The government is behind Operation Red Nose and will provide any support that’s needed,” says Naqvi.
Van Vlaanderen says one of the operation’s challenges is getting enough volunteers to run the service.
“Because we’re new, getting the word out late has been a bit of a problem,” he says. “We don’t have a large enough volunteer base, at least not by our estimates.”
The operation has partnered with Astral Media and other media organizations to advertise to volunteers and potential clients.
“The focus is more on volunteers (hearing) the message we’re sending, and then after that, we’re definitely trying to make sure people are aware that we have the service available,” he says.“In order to be there for clients, we do need more volunteers. So we’re trying to get both of those messages out as much as possible.”