By Peggy Helman
Medill Reports
Despite the 33-degree water temperature of Lake Michigan, plungers were excited to dive in to raise money for Chicago families in need.
“It’s ice cold. My feet feel like they’re falling off,” plunger Gavin Higgins said.
In a city known for its long and frigid winters, thousands of Chicagoans plunged into the lake to celebrate the Polar Bear Club’s annual Polar Plunge.
The Polar Bear Club, which hosts the plunge every January at Oak Street Beach, raised more than $115,000 dollars. Since its inception in 2002, the event has raised over $650,000 dollars. Attendance has also grown from just three participants in the first plunge to more than a thousand this year, with more spectators and donors present.
TRANSCRIPT:
Abigail Grenz: “Today we are here to do the cold plunge for the Polar Bear Club. It’s probably like 30 degrees right now, and we’re going to go swimming, because why not? What else would we want to do on a cold day in January?”
“They’re raising money for six different Chicago families, so we paid an admission – $30 – to help these families. We raised some money for them. It’s just a great way to get the community together.”
“To me, like, I take hot showers, so I’m not prepared for this. But it’s gonna be a fun experience.”
“My goal is just two deep breaths, watch some other people’s reactions of them getting in the water, and that’s really it. Just, probably 30 seconds.”
Gavin Higgins: “It’s ice cold.”
Kyle Miller: “It felt great.”
Higgins: “My feet feel like they’re falling off.”
Miller: “We couldn’t ask for a more beautiful day to be honest.”
Higgins: “Afterwards, it’s like, I feel alive, alert. It’s a good feeling. I feel like I’m still chattering, like inside.”
Kelly Gawlik: “It’s just something… nobody does it, nobody talks about it, so like, why not do it?”
“When you’re in there, and you’re under, and the cold – it stops your body for a little bit. And then you get out, and you just have to reset yourself. It’s amazing. It is.”
Peggy Helman is an MSJ candidate at Northwestern University. She is specializing in video and broadcast journalism.
