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Operation Red Nose wraps season with 112 New Year’s Eve rides

Jan 3, 2018 | 8:50 AM

LETHBRIDGE – Operation Red Nose has wrapped up after raising a total of more than $38,700 for University of Lethbridge Pronghorn Athletics.

The total number of rides given during the 2017 Christmas and New Year’s season was down from last year, but operated for two fewer days. A total of 967 rides were given over 10 nights, including 112 on New Year’s Eve.

In 2016, volunteers provided 1,159 rides during 12 nights of operation, so the average per night was in fact slightly higher in 2017. The record is 1,428, set in 2011.

Of the money raised, $23,258 came from donations from the service’s patrons, and the rest from corporate donations.

The service, a fundraiser for the Pronghorn athletics department, uses volunteers to give people safe rides home in their own vehicles, when they’re out drinking during the holiday season. In 23 years Operation Red Nose in Lethbridge has raised more than $728,000.