It was another safe holiday season in the Battlefords thanks to the efforts of the local volunteers of Operation Red Nose.
The campaign to provide safe rides home to holiday revelers completed the final rides on New Year's Eve.
But an important part of the North Battleford Lions Club's mandate is to raise funds from client donations for youth and amateur sports organizations in the community. It proved to be a successful local fundraising campaign this year.
Wednesday, Operation Red Nose provided a cheque to the Battlefords Boys and Girls Club for $5,000.
Boys and Girls Club Executive Director Sheri Woolridge said the money will go to their youth and sports programming.
"We take the kids swimming, skating, we play soccer with them, we take them to gym night twice a week," said Woolridge.
The Boys and Girls Club also have an outdoor hockey league starting up this week, so the donation money will be well utilized.
This was the third year in a row the Lions Club has organized the Operation Red Nose effort in the Battlefords, which ran from Nov. 25 all through the holiday season. SGI once again partnered in the efforts, designed to encourage people to not drink and drive and to plan ahead for a safe ride home during the holidays.
Bill Bowman of North Battleford Lions Club said the local campaign was "the best we ever had, really." He said 104 local volunteers provided 143 safe rides home to customers and their guests.
Volunteers were dispatched to pick up the clients to drive them home in their own cars. A follow-up car would drive along to pick the volunteer driver up after completing the client's journey home.
In the national campaign, Operation Red Nose provided 85,926 rides in 111 host communities in eight Canadian provinces. The organization says this is the most communities since the program was launched in Quebec in 1984.
The national organization said in a media release that $1.3 million was expected to be donated to youth and amateur sports organizations throughout the country.
The Battlefords has been a leader and pioneer in bringing Operation Red Nose to Saskatchewan. It was the first community to offer an Operation Red Nose service in the province in 2009.
This year saw another milestone as Operation Red Nose expanded in the province for the first time. Prince Albert became the second community to provide the service, and that brought the total number of rides provided in the province to 230 for the year.
Bowman is happy to see Operation Red Nose efforts now spread to other communities in Saskatchewan.
"I think it's great to see people having the option of the safe ride home," said Bowman.
He particularly thanks not only all the Operation Red Nose volunteers for their time and efforts, but members of the community who helped to support the campaign's efforts. Bowman estimated the Lions club accounted for one-third of the volunteers while the rest were made up of various others from the Battlefords community.
He thanked the local pizza franchises, who provided food for their drivers this year, as well as the car dealerships for providing follow-up cars.
The City of North Battleford supported Operation Red Nose efforts by again providing a grant to cover the costs of the criminal records checks for the drivers.
Woolridge is happy the Battlefords Boys and Girls Club was a partner in the Operation Red Nose effort, as she recognized the greater good the service provided to the community.
"We really, really love being part of Operation Red Nose. It keeps the community safe, it's something we can be part of that's a community effort," said Woolridge. She also touts the strong partnership between the North Battleford Lions and the Boys and Girls Club as something that "spans the ages that way."
Operation Red Nose will be back in operation in the Battlefords in 2012, with the North Battleford Lions Club already planning to apply to the national organization in May to host the local effort again.
Until the service returns again during the next holiday season, Operation Red Nose and SGI are urging all Canadians to continue to plan ahead for a safe ride home through the entire year by calling a sober friend, calling a cab or using public transit.
