Bay of Plenty surf life saving clubs benefit from large donation

Bay of Plenty surf life saving clubs are set to benefit from a campaign that saw more than $230,000 raised for the charity.

A whopping $231,219 was raised for Surf Life Saving New Zealand (SLSNZ) with BP's Every Litre Counts campaign.

The campaign started on January 20 and a portion of every litre of fuel sold went to the charity over the course of a month.

Forty clubs across the country also received $1000 each, four of these were from the region.

The local clubs were Maketu SLC, Papamoa SLSC, Pukehina Surf Rescue and Whakatāne SLSC.

SLSNZ was investing the vital funds generated this year into an essential Inflatable Rescue Boat (IRB) Health and Safety project.

"IRBs are such a critical component to our beach rescues, and the health and safety of our
volunteers is paramount. The $231,219 generated by Every Litre Counts will help us fund research into IRB safety as well as develop education resources and training programmes," SLSNZ chief executive Paul Dalton said.

Every Litre Counts was first introduced in 2018 to mark 50 years since BP began its support of SLSNZ in 1968.