Pandemic presents challenge for Operation Red Nose

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This article was published 25/09/2020 (2146 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The COVID-19 pandemic is complicating plans to offer a popular holiday ride service that saves lives by keeping impaired drivers off the roads.

Operation Red Nose announced Friday that 10 of 11 Manitoba chapters will not offer a safe ride service this year. Only the La Broquerie chapter has yet to decide whether to operate.

“Maintaining social distancing in vehicles and ensuring a safe environment for our clients and volunteers would be very difficult, if not impossible,” Sharra Hinton, a Winnipeg chapter coordinator, wrote in a note to sponsors.

Established in Quebec in 1984, Operation Red Nose assembles teams of volunteers who drive clients and their vehicles home from parties and other social gatherings during the holiday season. The free and confidential service accepts donations that are then redistributed to local charities and community organizations.

Marie-Chantal Fortin, a national development coordinator for Operation Red Nose who oversees activities in seven provinces, explained chapters are autonomous non-profit organizations that “host” the safe ride service.

“Each local host organization can decide for themselves whether logistically they are able to provide the service this year or not,” Fortin said.

“Across Canada, the realities of communities are a little bit different, and the situation is different, and so we don’t want to make a decision for them.”

Francois Grenier, coordinator of the La Broquerie chapter, said local committee members haven’t met yet to discuss the situation.

“Our main goal is to keep everyone safe, including our volunteers,” Grenier said.

They have until the end of September to decide whether to offer a ride service.

“It definitely won’t look the same, if we would offer it,” Grenier said.

In past years, the chapter’s coverage area included Steinbach. Last year, 209 volunteers provided 410 rides that helped 774 clients get home safely.

Grenier said no matter what happens, the committee will stress the importance of safe travel during the holidays.

“We’ve always pushed for people to plan before they go out, and show the different options out there,” Grenier said.

“We always say, ‘Call a friend, call a relative, call a cab, or call Operation Red Nose,’” Fortin said.

Chapters operating this year must get a list of “sanitary guidelines” approved by their public health authority. Those measures will be “strictly implemented,” national organizers said in a release.

“Distancing inside the headquarters is part of it, wearing a mask inside the vehicle is also part of it, because inside a vehicle it’s not possible to keep a two-metre distance,” Fortin said.

Across Canada, Operation Red Nose anticipates a lower demand for service and fewer willing volunteers.

“We don’t know if there will be office parties, for example,” Fortin said. “However, things change so rapidly that it’s hard to know what’s going to happen two months from now.”

Grenier said office parties account for half of service requests in La Broquerie.

In a Friday release, St Malo coordinator Charmaine Gosselin said the chapter decided not to operate this year because social distancing in vehicles is “nearly impossible.”

“We fully plan to resume in 2021 as we hope this will only be a one-year pause,” Gosselin added.

Last year, volunteers with the St Malo chapter serviced 15 communities and ensured 484 riders and 260 vehicles got home safely.