Drinking Beer Protects the Coastline

If you drank a Bud Light, Bud Light Lime or Budweiser over Memorial Day Weekend, you helped protect the Monterey Bay coast. 

One of Santa Cruz County’s longest-running corporate/environmental partnerships kicked off over the weekend, with the launching of the 17th annual Save Our Surf campaign.

Watsonville's Couch Distributing will donate a percentage of sales from those three beers between Memorial Day and Labor Day to the Santa Cruz Chapter of Surfrider Foundation. It's a partnership that began in 1996 and has raised at least $10,000 a year for the local environmental nonprofit ever since.

“We’re supporting Surfrider again this year because we believe we have an obligation to give something back to the community,” President George Couch said in a prepared statement. “A healthy coastal environment is important not only to all the local communities we serve, but to all of us individually.”

Save Our Surf has provided the local chapter with the means to be an official supporter of the , which—together with its affiliated Local Stewardship Council—is committed to keeping an eye on threats to the coast and surf breaks. It has also allowed the chapter to be a strong environmental leader in the community through monthly chapter meetings, an education program, beach clean-ups, storm drain stenciling, weekly water quality tests, and ongoing activism on environmental matters affecting beaches and ocean waters.

"It is inspiring to have a local business like Couch Distributing show such commitment to the protection and enjoyment of our oceans, waves and beaches," said Dustin Macdonald, chair of the local Surfrider Foundation chapter, said. "We hope that commitment will encourage others to care for our coast and get involved in the chapter’s volunteer-led, community-based campaigns and programs.”                

Couch Distributing Company, Inc., is the largest independent beverage distributor in the Central Coast area. It distributes Anheuser-Busch/InBev, Crown Beverages (Corona, Modelo), Heineken, and Diageo/Guinness, among other brands, in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties.