How to celebrate a birthday

It is not unusual for businesses to celebrate milestones, but Marcus and Alex Te Brake chose something out for the ordinary to mark their fifth anniversary at Cooper’s Beach Four Square.

They dug into their back pocket to come up with $5000, inviting their customers to decide how it should be shared between three emergency services. At the end of the four weeks the Northland rescue helicopter received $2089, the Mangonui Volunteer Fire Brigade $1530, and Far North Radio and Sea Rescue $1381.

FNRSR president and senior volunteer radio operator Annette Hall was very impressed and grateful.

“Without fanfare Marcus, his beautiful family and amazing staff have always been involved in local community activities, and on behalf of all our dedicated volunteers I thank them for continuing to support and be part of our Far North community,” she said.

Mr Te Brake said the pleasure was all his. “It’s been an amazing ride so far, and we couldn’t have asked for a better place to start a family.”

The store was his small son Oscar’s favourite place, and he was sure his little sister would love it just as much when she arrived.

“Huge shout out to our exceptional team — your loyalty, support and hard work continues to blow us away,” he added. “Doubtless Bay is one beautiful community, and we are grateful to all our loyal customers from here and afar.”