Operation Red Nose begins holiday season service

A free service for those who have had too much to drink officially kicked off in Regina Friday night.
 
Operation Red Nose is a volunteer-based program which provides you and your vehicle a safe ride home.
 
“As a driver for Operation Red Nose, honestly truly could be like test driving a new car ’cause you’re never driving the same car twice,” said Ed Edwards, driver and coordinator of Operation Red Nose.
 
Edwards helped create the Regina branch of Operation Red Nose which is now in its third year of service in the city.
 
“A mutual friend had contacted me and said, you know, what kind of service project could your kinsmen do around Christmas time, and we thought about it, and she presented this, hey, you know, how about a safe ride home program,” explained Edwards.
 
One thing led to another and the service was set up for the 2013 holiday season.
 
Edwards has been a taxi driver before and said this program is comparable. Maybe one big difference is, all of his customers are friendly.
 
“Everybody’s relatively friendly. We haven’t had any bad bad experiences yet.”
 
“We’ve actually had some repeat customers that they love the service. They’re more at ease. You know what, we can go out and visit with these friends or that friends and we just call you and you take us home,” said Edwards who expects the service to be busier than last year.
 
Operation Red Nose runs on Nov. 27 and Nov. 28, Dec. 4 and Dec. 5, Dec. 11 and Dec. 12, Dec. 18 and Dec. 19, and new years eve. You can call anytime between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m. at 306-949-2400.