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Cold Water Won’t Deter Polar Plunge Participants from Raising Special Olympics Funds

Special Olympics Kentucky

Kentucky Lake temperatures are at a chilly 37 degrees today as Polar Plunge participants prepare to jump in tomorrow to raise money for the Special Olympics. That’s ten degrees lower than the water temperature last year.

Special Olympics Calloway County Coordinator Laura Miller says most fundraising money will come in tomorrow but the event's website shows totals now are around $59,000, which is about the same as this time last year.

“Without the plunge we wouldn’t exist,” she said. “Locally all of our money for athletes comes directly from the Polar Plunge.”

Miller says even though the lake is covered with ice, the event will go on.

“We just always want to encourage people to go ahead and come out no matter the weather. And it’s nice to know that even though it’s so cold and people just want to warm up that they care that much about our athletes and our programs to still maybe endure a little bit of cold to endure a year’s worth of sports training for our athletes.”

Last year the plunge raised $102,000, which was split between Special Olympics Kentucky and their programs in Calloway and Marshall counties.

Whitney grew up listening to Car Talk to and from her family’s beach vacation each year, but it wasn’t until a friend introduced her to This American Life that radio really grabbed her attention. She is a recent graduate from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., where she studied journalism. When she’s not at WKMS, you can find her working on her backyard compost pile and garden, getting lost on her bicycle or crocheting one massive blanket.
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