Operation Red Nose not available in Regina for the coming holiday season

Operation Red Nose is kicking off its programs elsewhere in Saskatchewan in just a couple of weeks, but Regina is being left out of that this year.

According to Operation Red Nose’s national development co-ordinator, Marie-Chantal Fortin, the program will not be running in Regina this year.

Operation Red Nose has run in Regina for the last seven years, allowing people to call the number during the holidays and get a sober ride home for them and their car in exchange for a donation. The program partners with a charitable organization in the host city to run things on the ground and to be the recipient of the donations.

The Kinsmen helped get it off the ground in Regina, but Fortin said the group wanted to pass the torch this year.

“They did a lot of really good work bringing the program to Regina and getting the groundwork laid and … I think they had the hard part of the work, which they did really well, but they said, ‘We’re ready to let this go and have someone else come and build on what we have established,’ ” Fortin said.

Fortin said the Kinsmen informed Operation Red Nose in the late winter or spring that they wouldn’t be running the program again. Both organizations started looking around for a new partner but couldn’t find one and, at this point, it’s too late for 2019.

Fortin said they’re looking for a partner in Regina to start next year.