RED NOSE RIDES AGAIN TO GET YOU HOME The safe ride home initiative is back this month, with donations going to help amateur athletes through PacificSport Interior BC
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hether you have been out and enjoying company with a few beverages or it is snowing heavily and you aren’t too comfortable driving home, Operation Red Nose is here for you. After taking a pandemic-caused hiatus in 2020, the safe ride home initiative is back, with donations going to help amateur athletes through PacificSport Interior BC. Those volunteering for and using the service will need to be double vaccinated against COVID-19 and show proof of the inoculation. “That’s a strict protocol we implemented to ensure we could be back fully this year,” program coordinator Elsa Poppleton said. Anyone who calls for a ride who isn’t double vaccinated will not be given a lift home. Dispatchers will ask the caller ahead of time if everyone entering the vehicle is double vaccinated. Hopefully, Poppleton said, everyone will be truthful.
6 - Christmas in Kamloops 2021 | Part 2
“If we do arrive to the house or party, you will be required to show the double vaccination and, if you don’t have it, then we’ll be calling a cab or giving you an alternate way to get home safely,” Poppleton said. Both drivers and passengers will be required to wear masks in the vehicle and cleaning guidelines will be in place, with dashboards and steering wheels sanitized every ride. No passengers will be allowed to ride shotgun and keeping the windows cracked open will be recommended for improved ventilation. Operation Red Nose’s remaining nights of service are Dec. 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 30 and 31, from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. In 2019, Operation Red Nose provided more than 1,200 rides in the city, the most in B.C. and 16thmost across the country. That year, the program had 235 volunteers as designated drivers, escort drivers, navigators, phone operators and dispatchers. To volunteer, visit the PacificSport
Interior BC website at pacificsport interiorbc.com/operationrednose or visit the Tournament Capital Centre, Kamloops Sports Council or Volunteer Kamloops to fill out a form. To book a ride home, call 250372-5110.
PacificSport Interior BC executive director Carolynn Boomer helps launch the 2021 Operation Red Nose campaign alongside Cheryl Blackwell and Rich Woods from radio station B100. Michael Potestio/LJI/KTW
