Operation Red Nose laucnhes it 2008 season!

Hello to everyone from the stunning Nanaimo Golf Club.

The 2008 season of Operation Red Nose is upon us and we just had a splendid launch party graciously hosted by the beautiful Nanaimo Golf Club. We were blessed by the presence of many community volunteers, business sponsors, and members of the media.

Constable O'Brien discussing the importance of Operation Red Nose, while I look on.

Catherine Edwards representing our friends at PacificSport telling everyone how donations collected from Operation Red Nose helps local athletes achieve their goals and dreams.

Pat Ahren of ICBC talks about the importance of Operation Red Nose during this busy holiday season.

Drew Cooper of PacificSport speaks about his organization sponsering Operation Red Nose, and about its importance to both the community and local athletes.

Our lovely volunteers. Operation Red Nose would not be possible without you. You guys are all wonderful!

Our great community and business partners. Thank you so much, you guys provide great support for Operation Red Nose.

I would like to thank everyone of you who showed up for the Operation Red Nose launch party. It really looked like we were all having a great time. I can't wait until our service nights start! Remember, Operation Red Nose starts November 28th and runs every Friday and Saturday through the month of December and New Years Eve.

So remember to make us the last call you make before hitting the road - 755-6969

If you would like to become a volunteer call Catharine at 740-6572.

Have a Safe Operation Red Nose Season!

Rudy

Operaton Red Nose 2007 Comes to a Close......

Well we have come to the end of the 2007 Operation Red Nose Campaign.

And, what a great campaign it was!!

Over the course of the entire 2007 campaign we had some great nights:

Friday November 30th was our night to welcome volunteers from the Malaspina Recreation and Tourism program.

Friday December 7th was our night to welcome employees from Coast Realty.

Friday December 14th was a particularly special night:

• most volunteers for one night this year (41).


• highest single donation amount. One very generous person donated a bag of rolled coins totalling just over $200.00.


• It was also the night that Shaw employees volutneered for ORN and the company matched the total donations for the night!

Monday December 31st was of course a busy night:

• we dispatched the most teams of the campaign (17) to a record number of calls (128).

Overall we had a great campaign:

• 665 rides


• 294 volunteers


• 108 teams


• 15,073 kms driven


• over $12,000.00 donated

Thank you to all of our sponsors, volunteers and to those people who took advantage of the Operation Red Nose Service.

See you all next season!!!!

Rudy

Cheers to Coast Realty Group and Shaw Employees

What a great couple of weekends of Red Nose! Along with our community volunteers, employees from Coast Realty Group and Shaw volunteered for Operation Red Nose. What a great team bonding activity for employees.

December 7th - Coast Realty Employees - Great bunch of people helping to keep Nanaimo streets safe this holiday season.

Community Volunteers on December 7th

December 14 - Shaw employees - What a night! Records were dropping everywhere! Most number of rides on a single night this year, most number of volunteers this year and highest amount of single donation ever. Amazing!

To add to this great night.....Shaw is matching the total donations for the night....WOW! Thanks Shaw.

See you next weekend! Have a great Red Nose night!!

Rudy

Operation Red Nose is Underway!!!

A Big Red Nose Howdy from Rudy!

Friday November 30th, our first night, went off with a bang. The Malaspina University Recreation and Tourism class answered the call and came out in force to volunteer for Operation Red Nose again this year. Our dispatchers are the Malaspina University Public Safety Communications students have also come forward to man the phones for the entire campaign! In addition to our students we had many of our regulars and some newby's volunteering on our inaugural night. Thanks a bunch to all of you for helping keep Nanaimo streets safer.

Unfortunately, our second night, December 1st, was cancelled due to treacherous conditions with our first snow storm of the season. Hopefully, eveyone was able to get home safely.

Earlier in the week I had the great fun meeting many of our restaruant sponsors. Here are some of my best pics with staff:

At Earls I had my picture taken with Sydney.

The entire staff at Swiss Chalet came pouring out of the kitchen to have their picture taken with me. Thanks guys.

I had a lot of fun with Victoria, KoKo and Lindsay at Zougla, the staff at the Keg and at the Blue Ginger! Even though it was a miserable rainy day the staff members at all restaurants I visited made the day bright and sunny!

Here I am with Rikhi and Genn at Drift and Thomas and his crew at Minnoz. What a great group of people!

It was a busy day meeting with all of the people who support Operation Red Nose. Bocca and Acme also braved the rainy weather to have their picture taken with me.

Keep your 'Rudy Watch' eyes open....maybe I will see you!!!

Have a safe Holiday Season with Operation Red Nose.

Rudy

Operation Red Nose Launches Another Great Season!!

Hi everyone from the beautiful Nanaimo Golf Club.

Thanks go out to President Brian McCourt and Women's Captain Eileen Lewis for joining us and providing a great venue for the 2007 Operation Red Nose Launch!

Beautiful setting and great food.

I even have a new T-shirt this year just to dress me up a little. What do you think?

So many wonderful people came to join me in opening the new campaign.

Corporal Dave from our local RCMP and Pat Ahern from ICBC said some really nice words about how great Operation Red Nose is and how much it is needed in our community. Thanks guys!

We also said hi to Catharine, Dave & Drew, our friends from PacificSport. Drew talked about how your donations from Operation Red Nose go to help local athletes achieve their goals.

Kevin and Jason from Tom Harris Cellular, Erin and Randy from Budget Car and Truck Rentals, Donna from A Channel, Glenn and Paul from the Nanaimo Daily News, Chris from the Nanaimo News Bulletin and Derek from Shaw Cable were all there to celebrate with us. We thank you all for your support. A few people had sent their regrets that they were not able to be with us at the launch this year. Dan from Thrifty Foods was unable to be with us as he had an appointment with a beach in Cancun. Lucky guy!!

And, who could forget my loyal fans...Volunteers of Operation Red Nose!

Derek, Linda, Don, Ted, Laverne, Bobbie, Robert, Jim, and Steve were able to be at the Nanaimo Golf Club to celebrate with me.

You guys are GREAT!!!!


This is just the beginning. So much more fun to be had by all!

Operation Red Nose begins on November 30th and runs every Friday and Saturday Night through the month of December and New Years Eve!!

So remember to make us the last call you make before hitting the road - 755-6969

If you would like to become a volunteer call Catharine at 740-6572.

Have a Safe Operation Red Nose Season!

Rudy

Operation Red Nose 2007!

Hey all you Red Nosers!

I am back for another great season of Operation Red Nose. Thursday November 15th is the big day when I will be with my friends from PacificSport at the Nanaimo Golf Club to launch the 2007 Operation Red Nose Campaign. I can feel it from my antlers to my toes that this is going to be the best season ever for helping people get home safely over the holidays.

So.....get out your calendar and mark these dates in - November 30th, December 1st, 7th, 8th, 14th, 15th, 21st, 22nd, 28th, 29th, and the grand finale of NEW YEARS EVE!!

Don't forget to give us a call * 755-6969 *

And remember....if you want to volunteer contact Catharine at 740-6572 or edwardsc2@mala.ca

See you around town and have a Save Holiday Season with Operation Red Nose.

Rudy

Restaurant Sponsors

Last week I was able to get out and visit a few more restaurant sponsors. The food these guys are supplying has been phenomenal. Many of our volunteers have commented to me on how great we're feeding them this year and it's all thanks to the generosity of our restaurant sponsors. Pictured: Cactus Club, Earl's, Zougla Restaurant, The Keg and Tania's Downtown

Happy New Year! Weekend Results

Happy New Year Nanaimo!

I'd like to thank you all for making New Year’s Eve a phenomenal success for Operation Red Nose. We broke records for most volunteers on a single night (41), most calls on a single night (118), largest number of people driven home on a single night (333), and records across the board for all final campaign results.
This year the Operation Red Nose campaign utilized 261 volunteers responding to 599 calls, driving more than 1500 people home safely for the holidays. Seeing these stats just makes me proud of our community.
Once again I would like to congratulate the community for making responsible choices and thank you for supporting Operation Red Nose this holiday season. Your efforts helped raise just over $10,000 for local athletes. That's an increase of about $2500 over last year’s campaign.