Prepare to take the Plunge in Whitewater
Released: November 9, 2007
Jumping into a lake in the middle of February may not sound like the hottest idea, but this activity is what millions of Wisconsinites do every winter to raise money for the Special Olympics. This year the excitement is coming to Whitewater on Feb. 9 when the Public Relations Student Society of America invites everyone from the area to take the Plunge into Cravath Lake.
"PRSSA is excited to be working with the Special Olympics Wisconsin to help promote the Polar Plunge," said Ashley Jones, director of the PR Task Force, the PRSSA public relations firm. "We want to encourage everyone to take the Plunge and raise some money for the cause."
The Polar Plunge is a unique opportunity for individuals, organizations and businesses to support local Special Olympics athletes by jumping or slowly crawling into the frigid and icy waters of Wisconsin. For the past 10 years, Wisconsinites have helped raise nearly $6 million by taking the plunge.
Before you plunge, you must register. You can register online, the day of the plunge or at a pre-registration event. Even if you are part of a team, you need to register individually. Teams can be formed by groups of friends, residence halls, fraternities or sororities, sports teams, student organizations, families or work places.
Once you or your team is registered, start raising pledges. There is a printable pledge form online along with registration information. Teams that register online will be able to customize their team and personal pages, which can be e-mailed or printed off in an effort to raise pledges. Pledges can be in the form of cash or check, or online as credit card pledges. To receive the official Plunge sweatshirt, pledgers must raise a minimum of $75. Incentive prizes will be given out based on pledges received up to the day of the Plunge.
The day of the plunge, all plungers must sign a release waiver. Plungers under the age of 18 must have a waiver signed by a parent or guardian. The release waiver can be found online as well.
Once you've registered, raised pledges and signed your release waiver, you are ready to take the plunge. Saturday Feb. 9 at noon, grab your swimsuit, a sweatshirt and get ready to take the Polar Plunge into Cravath Lake. For more information visit www.specialolympicswisconsin.org/polar_plunge or call Dave from the Special Olympics at 262-598-9507. Join the Facebook group "Polar Plunge in UWW!" to get all the updates.
- Sarah DuPree,dupreesc02@uww.edu
