Operation Red Nose is doing its job in Portage la Prairie. That's from Coordinator Leo Lapointe, who says the program has one weekend under its belt and was a great success.

"Our first weekend was last weekend. We had a really good weekend. Rides were up and donations were up. Looking always from the previous year, everything is up. So, I'm happy with the response of having a lot of people use Operation Red Nose service to keep drinking and driving off the roads of Portage la Prairie."

He notes Grey Cup Sunday was a little slow with a total amount of four rides, but that was expected. Lapointe sends kudos to those who used the service to get home safe and sound. He adds they provided a total number of 63 rides last weekend, and donations amounted to just over $1,500.00.

The service receives calls and then gathers some information from you to send a car with a team of three so that you and your car can get home safely. It's a free ride. If you wish, you can donate, and proceeds go to Portage Minor Hockey. This coming weekend has nights where a couple of other organizations are helping out, so proceeds will be going to those groups for those evenings.