11 March 2011

A Christchurch couple have beaten out 96,000 ticket holders to take out the top prize in Coastguard’s summer lottery – one of the charity’s major annual fundraisers.

Loyal Coastguard lottery supporters for years, Mr and Mrs Bennett from Opawa, are the lucky winners of a Toyota Highlander and a Haines Hunter boat worth a total of $120,000.

Coastguard CEO Bruce Reid and Southern Regional Manager Cheryl Moffat decided to break tradition and give the news face to face to the couple while Reid was in Christchurch to join Coastguard Volunteers in assisting with earthquake relief efforts.

Mrs Moffat says the winners were both delighted and surprised to hear the news but were slowly coming to terms with winning a prize with such a large value.

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“It was really heartwarming to be able to tell them some good news in person and offer a little bit of light at a difficult time,” she says.

“Coastguard is an organisation that works hard to provide a service to local communities. We rely on support from the community to continue our work so it was a privilege to reward a couple, who have helped us, during their time of need,” says CEO Bruce Reid.

The summer lottery is just one way in which the 69 Coastguard Units throughout New Zealand raise funds and generate more awareness of what they do in their local community.

The summer lottery is one way for local Coastguard Units to raise much needed funds which may be used how they wish. Each Unit receives $7 from every $10 ticket they sell so money raised from that community goes back into their local Unit.

ENDS

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