NEWS

Polar Bear Plunge brings in record $780,000

RACHAEL PACELLA
The (Salisbury, Md.) Daily Times

More than 3,000 people took the plunge in Rehoboth Beach on Sunday, heading into an Atlantic Ocean that was only four degrees colder than the air.

Special Olympics Delaware raised a record $780,000 through its biggest fundraiser of the year, the Lewes Polar Bear Plunge.

The water was 37 degrees when 3,325 people jumped in for the cause, according to Director of Media Relations Jon Buzby. The air was only 41 degrees.

Funds will support Special Olympics Delaware, which serves 3,700 children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing sports training, athletic competition and most importantly the opportunity to socialize.

Sandra Pierson was on the beach Sunday with Special Olympics athlete Steven Brownlee, part of the team Brownlee's Bears. The team raised more than $1,700 to ensure Brownlee has a special place, she said.

"Special Olympics Delaware provides a safe place for Steven to go with his friends and to participate, probably one of the only places they can be themselves and not be judged," Pierson said.

"Freezin For A Region" was the motto of the 24th Annual Lewes Polar Bear Plunge for Special Olympics held in Rehoboth Beach on Sunday.

Brownlee bowls and plays basketball with the program.

"This is a great cause," plunger Mike Milnes said. "I couldn't think of a place I'd rather be."

Milnes, of Wilmington, has taught swimming for Special Olympics Delaware in the past. He was one of many participants that dressed in costume, donning a Captain America outfit for the plunge.

"You have to be a superhero," Milnes said.

Larry Evans, Ariel Heath and Robb Dunne all wore colored body suits into the waves.

"You can't be the norm," Evans said. "You have to be something different."

"Freezin For A Region" was the motto of the 24th Annual Lewes Polar Bear Plunge for Special Olympics held in Rehoboth Beach on Sunday.

Both Evans and Dunne have plunged for 10 years, while Heath was on her second. But those streaks are eclipsed by another plunger, Joe De Rosa of Wilmington, said it was his 13th plunge in Delaware, and his 27th overall.

De Rosa, 84, was plunging with four other generations of his family. His costume was a tiny tuxedo and a necklace made of garlic.

"I try to go in as far as I can. I didn't drive 70 miles to get my feet wet," he said.

In 24 years, the Polar Bear Plunge has raised $8.3 million.

rpacella@dmg.gannett.com

302-537-1881, ext. 207

On Twitter @rachaelpacella

"Freezin For A Region" was the motto of the 24th Annual Lewes Polar Bear Plunge for Special Olympics held in Rehoboth Beach on Sunday.
“Freezin For A Region” was the motto of the 24th annual Lewes Polar Bear Plunge for Special Olympics held in Rehoboth Beach on Sunday. The annual event is the major fundraiser of Delaware Special Olympics. This year, the air was only four degrees warmer than the water.