For the Toombs family, volunteering with Operation Red Nose since its inception 19 years ago began with providing two-way radios used in the vehicles that offer a safe ride home for those celebrating the holidays.
Volunteers come in teams of three where one drives the car of the merry maker (and their friends), one drives the escort vehicle, while the other person navigates to get where they need to go.
Other volunteers take on telephone duty as calls for a ride come into the dispatch centre located at ICBC's main office on 15th Avenue.
The service is provided by donation and presented by the Nechako Rotary Club of Prince George and ICBC in partnership with the Prince George RCMP.
Karen and Warren Toombs, who own T&S Communications, have always encouraged volunteerism and have had up to 11 family members volunteer during Operation Red Nose, which operates weekends leading up to New Year's Eve, which is the busiest night for the safe ride home service.
Karen and Warren took a more hands-on approach for the last 15 years or so and now Karen is the coordinator for the hundreds of volunteers it takes to run a successful Red Nose campaign in Prince George.
T&S still provides communication equipment and Warren is on duty as a dispatcher and Mr. Fix-It for when things go wrong with a walkie talkie.
Daughters Jackie, 21, and Sarah, 27, grew up helping behind the scenes when they were younger and as they got older would take on dispatch, navigator and driving duties, volunteering right along with mom and dad. Oldest daughter Amanda, who now lives in Williams Lake, also spent years taking on many duties during the volunteer effort.
"Our drive for volunteering is our sense of community and it's important to us to do something for somebody else where there was a need and we wanted to step up and step in and help the people of Prince George," said Karen. "We've volunteered nine nights for the last nine years and this year we'll do 10 nights."
The shifts begin at about 7 p.m. for Karen and Warren most nights and they see the rest of the volunteers work from 9 p.m. when the first call is taken at dispatch and continues until about 3 a.m. depending on where the last ride is going.
"Fridays are the hardest because you've worked all week and then you might take a rest and then you work all night," said Warren.
New Year's Eve is the busiest night and sees up to 40 teams of drivers at the ready for the evening's demands. During the first night Operation Red Nose runs there's a call for about 10 teams to handle the requests for rides and then it gains momentum as the holidays get closer.
Volunteers are always needed and applications will be accepted until Dec. 19, said Karen.
Volunteers can do one night or sign up for all 10 nights, whatever they're prepared to do is appreciated, added Karen, whose been working on the campaign along with Warren and others on the steering committee since August.
"We take pride in the fact that Prince George is a great place to volunteer and we like to see as many people as possible come out and we enjoy getting to know them," said Karen. "We're only one part of the whole body of volunteers, it takes many to make the program a success and we couldn't do it without them."
One of the perks is people make connections with like-minded people and there's even been some romances that have blossomed at Operation Red Nose, added Karen, who also volunteers with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, helping with a program called Bags of Love for children abruptly entering the foster care system, collecting items for Christmas hampers and creating afghans and layettes for those in hospital.
Warren and Karen are also area coordinators for the Pathfinder Club in the north that includes Chetwynd to Williams Lake and as far west as Terrace. Pathfinders are part of a worldwide coed scouting type organization sponsored by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church for children and youth.
"There is lots of community involvement through the church and that's what we've been doing for the last 30-plus years," said Karen.
Right now all their focus is on Operation Red Nose and all the little details that go along with it.
All funds raised through Operation Red Nose stay in the community and is geared to support youth and amateur sports, she added.
Boundaries for safe rides home include Shelley, Red Rock, Beaverley, and Goose Country Road.
2016 operating times are from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. and dates include this Friday and Saturday, as well as Friday, Dec. 02 and Saturday, Dec. 03, Friday Dec. 09 and Saturday, Dec. 10, Friday, Dec. 16 and Saturday, Dec. 17, Friday, Dec. 30 and Saturday, Dec. 31.
To contact Operation Red Nose for a ride home on those nights, call 250-962-RIDE (7433).
Flip through The Citizen's Volunteer City series, featuring stand-out volunteers in Prince George:
