Western Bay of Plenty lifeguards will be hitting the streets today as part of their annual appeal to raise money.
Surf Life Saving New Zealand encourages people to dress for summer from today as part of the fundraiser. They encourage people to wear shorts, zinc, sun hat or jandals while donating to the lifeguards and volunteers on the streets.
Surf Life Saving is a charity and relies on the public's support to fund its essential rescue service, which saves countless lives in the Bay of Plenty every summer.
Volunteer lifeguards are trained and equipped with gear they need to save lives but that gear requires money to keep going.
This summer, around 4000 volunteer lifeguards are expected to spend more than 200,000 hours on patrol. During an average summer, over 1200 people are rescued from life threatening situations. Last year that number was over 1600.
