Four hundred freezing faithful inspire senior to improve herself, community

Published: February 10, 2009

On Feb. 7, at the Lake St. Louis Community Association Clubhouse, 400 people participated in the annual Polar Plunge in order to raise money for the Special Olympics of Missouri. Now, while I love swimming and cold water usually doesn’t bug me, I don’t think I would have been brave enough to jump into Lake St. Louis in that kind of weather.

Granted, we had a record high that day for February, but I still think they were crazy.

I thought it was great that people were willing to jump into a freezing lake in the middle of February to raise money for a good cause, however. There were tons of groups of people, sponsored by friends and family, who jumped into Lake St. Louis despite the chilly temperatures and lack of clothing. There were several interesting costumes in the mix, including a SpongeBob and Incredible Hulk, as well as those few people who actually went in with just a swimming suit.

This event really surprised me. Usually I like to think I have a pretty good idea of what is going on around my town and when big events or parties are going on. I went to this event, expecting maybe one hundred people or so to be there, but there were so many people there I had to park 20 minutes away from the event. This event was a big deal, yet I had never even heard of it. There were so many people there and it really shocked me. I guess there are more people out in the world that will do anything, including jumping into a freezing cold lake, to help out others.

I wish I could say that I do things like that all the time, but I have to say that I don’t. The countless people there, not just the brave souls that plunged into the lake, but also the people who came out to support them, really inspired me. Because of the efforts of all those people, I am going to start to find ways that I can help out in the world. Just by going to Google and searching events that were going on around my community, I found this amazing event that I wouldn’t have heard of otherwise. Those people really motivated me to try to get more involved in my community and be a bigger part of the world I live in.

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