From left, Hastings-Quinte social services chair Belleville Councillor Garnet Thomson and executive director Steve Gatward, May 11, 2016. Photo: Mary Thomas/Quinte News)
The number of calls to the Red Cross after-hours emergency line jumped 37% in the Quinte area over the winter months.
A report to the Hastings-Quinte social services committee shows that, although the number of calls increased dramatically from the last quarter of 2015, the number of responses by volunteers dropped by 11%.
Executive director Steve Gatward.
The Red Cross acts as the after-hours emergency service taking the calls for the social services department.
#2 RED CROSS
The agency handled 318 calls during the first three months of 2016.
