This financial year, Oak Flats and Shellharbour Community Bank branches have injected more than $200,000 into schools, sporting groups and not-for-profit community group projects.

Shellharbour Surf Lifesaving Club president Wayne Cavanagh said the donations have helped the club develop and continue its cadet development programs.

“The program is all about keeping the cadets with the club, which is an important investment because they are the ones that will keep lifesaving alive in the future,” Mr Cavanagh said.

“Bendigo have helped us massively over the years. It has been a great revenue for the club and really helped us through some hard times."

Mr Cavanagh said the latest funding boost will go toward the fabrication of a life saving patrol shelter for the club.

Bank chairman, Geoff Egan said he was proud of the evolution of the community bank’s model.

“We have taken this dream for a locally-owned and operated bank and turned it into a reality, financially supporting numerous community initiatives in the process,” he said.

“Thanks to the support of our customers, we have been able to grow to be one of the biggest sources of community funding in Shellharbour and we are very proud of that achievement.

“The Community Bank model is about far more than enhancing a community’s access to banking services, it’s now about securing an alternative source of income so that a community can fund activities or initiatives that make their town or suburb a better place to live.”

Community groups benefiting from this year’s funding include, a $50,000 grant shared between local emergency services, including local fire services, surf life saving clubs, SES and the Australian Aerial Patrol, the Denny Foundation and the KidzWish Foundation. Funds were also handed out among sporting groups including swimming, tennis, soccer and rugby league clubs.

The most-recent financial boost, takes the Community Bank branches’ community contribution total to $1.9 million in profits shared with the community since their inception in 2000.