8-year-olds Jetta Webb (right) and Stevie Reid care so much about ocean conservation that they are fundraising for the charity Live Ocean, by taking part in the 'Live Ocean Dip', at Takapuna Beach on the shortest day of the year. The pair encouraged friends and family to join them and have now raised more than $5000. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Pint-sized ocean lovers braved the wild wintry weather as they rallied together for Live Ocean’s Winter Dip.
Two 8-year-olds, Jetta and Stevie Reid, from Auckland’s North Shore created a $500 target fundraiser for their winter swim after they felt called to action in protecting the ocean.
The pair ended up raising $5050, substantially surpassing their target.
”We were like ‘oh, we’ve got to edit [the goal]’,” Jetta said.
Stevie couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“We’ve had a lot of donations,” she said. “I can’t keep track!”
The schoolgirls share the sentiments of Live Ocean, whose Winter Dip is now in its fourth year, and worry about what lies ahead for the health of oceans.
“The creatures may become extinct and also the world wouldn’t look as beautiful as it does now,” Jetta said.
Live Ocean chief executive Sally Paterson said the Winter Dip has increasingly more school kids participating.
“Young people know what they’re doing, it’s much clearer to them, ‘Why wouldn’t we save the oceans?’,” she said.
Jetta and Stevie gathered 30 kids and parents to join them in the dip on Thursday, braving the blustery Takapuna waters for more than 10 minutes.
The girls beamed as they finished their swim.
”I enjoyed every single second of that,” Jetta said.
With New Zealand being surrounded by ocean, Paterson stressed the need for Kiwis to look after it and said Jetta and Stevie’s fundraiser is a great display of bringing awareness to something they are all passionate about.
”Ocean conservation is often considered the poor cousin of land-based conservation. New Zealand has one of the largest and most special ocean spaces in the world, yet we don’t prioritise it in the way we do land-based conservation.
“That’s what’s so great about seeing this today, because this is what it’s all about, right? The ocean that we leave our kids,” she said.
Jetta and Stevie plan on creating a tradition out of their Winter Dip, and Stevie said it means “a lot” to be able to do their bit for the ocean.
“It feels very important to me because I love spending time out in the ocean and seeing lots of cool fish and snorkelling, it’s really fun,” Jetta said.
This year’s Live Ocean dip took place on the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. Paterson said that didn’t hold people back from participating in the winter dip, with many celebrating an ambition for a healthy ocean up and down the country.
Police request CCTV or dashcam footage from Parkers Rd on Sunday.