ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – It is still winter, and the temperatures are quite low, but that didn’t stop a group of high school students from running into Creve Coeur Lake Wednesday morning to get ready for the annual Polar Plunge benefiting the Missouri Special Olympics.
About a dozen students from Pattonville High School and Hazelwood West High School took the plunge into Creve Coeur Lake Wednesday morning in Maryland Heights. Firefighters from the Pattonville and Maryland Heights Fire Protection Districts were there just in case something went wrong.
The worthy cause promotes the 17th annual Polar Plunge coming up on February 18. The event is a major fundraiser for Special Olympics Missouri.
The Hazelwood and Maryland Heights Police Departments team up with Special Olympics Missouri to host the event at Creve Coeur Lake. Last year, polar plungers at Creve Coeur Lake raised more than $59,000 for Special Olympics athletes from Missouri. This year’s goal is $80,000.
FOX 2 spoke with organizers as well as Skylar Stump, a Hazelwood West student who took the plunge. Here’s what Skylar told FOX 2 right after she got out of the cold water.
“Oh it was cold. It was really, really, really bad. Oh my god, can’t feel my legs. I think they might have, yeah, my toes are gonna freeze off now. For a good cause, that’s all that matters.”
Kellen Wolters, with Special Olympics Missouri, added, “We really are freezing for a reason. You know people are willing to come out here and help us raise money for our athletes. If you’ve never experienced a Special Olympics event, I highly suggest you get on our website at somo.org, and you find one, and you come and see us. You know, these athletes work really hard and compete, and the least we can do is jump into some cold water for them.”
The plunge is at 1:00 p.m. on February 18 at Creve Coeur Lake. Registration and check-in starts at 11:00 a.m. You can sign up that day or ahead of time at somo.org/plunge.
Each participant needs to raise at least $75 or just pay $75 to take the plunge. This year’s theme is disco, so that might generate some fun attire for the plunge.
Organizers hope to break the million-dollar fundraising mark with ten different Polar Plunge events across Missouri.