Rotary: The Success of Operation Red Nose

Thank you again for being a vital part of a very successful Operation Red Nose campaign.

I am one of the few that get to meet every one of you. As the volunteer coordinator, I’m the one that is most likely to have had the most communication with you. For the most part that is done through emails. I can tell you that without email and the ability to use cut, paste and excel I would have no hair left.

This past year the campaign reached goals that we only hoped we could achieve. As in the past I get to see, what I believe is what makes the Operation Red Nose campaign fun.  It’s only fun because you the volunteers are not afraid to step outside of your comfort zone to do whatever it takes to make the program work.  People that do not know one another will willingly work together without complaint.  As I said, because I get to correspond with all of you, I get to see something that I call “the bonus in volunteering”. Over the five years of Operation Red Nose I am aware of many lasting friendships that started from one night of working a Red Nose shift with someone they had never met before. Yes we raise a lot of money for KidSport, save a few drivers’ licences’ and maybe even save a few lives but to me the thing that makes me feel good about it all is that we have introduced good hearted people to others with similar beliefs. For some Operation Red Nose was their first adventure into the volunteering world and from most accounts it was a good one. That to me is a great bonus. The talk around the Christmas parties this year seemed to move to “it’s the in thing to work a shift or two for Operation Red Nose.” What a change from the first year of Operation Red Nose.......
Malcolm Kennedy