Special Olympics Michigan takes Polar Plunge virtual
Mark Enszer of Beaverton reacts to the 35 degree water at the Polar Plunge Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020 in the parking lot of Wayside in Mt. Pleasant.
This year’s virtual Polar Plunge leads Special Olympics Michigan to lower fundraising goal to less than half of last year’s amount raised.
Due the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Michigan Law Enforcement Polar Plunge for Special Olympics Michigan has turned into participants submitting their own videos of cold challenges from January and is going on until Feb. 28.
SOMI has also added an option for a virtual Frozen 5K for the first year for the Frozen 5K. Participants can virtually participate by running or walking at any location and submit photos or videos. People can also donate without participating in either the Polar Plunge or the virtual Frozen 5K.
The Polar Plunge SOMI State Summer Games fundraiser has changed from more than 30 in-person plunge locations to submitting videos and photos.
IN 2020, the Polar Plunge raised $1.37 million across the entire state, the highest fundraising for a single Polar Plunge season. The current amount raised for 2021 is just under $370,000 since starting in January with a goal of $500,000. SOMI also hopes to see 2,500 participants this year and already has about 2,000 people registered. Last year, there were about 4,750 participants across the whole state.
SOMI Senior Director of Marketing and Communications Aaron Mills said people have been submitting videos and helping by donating.
“It’s a chance to be a part of something bigger," Mills said. "Virtual Polar Plunge with our $500,000 goal will go a long way to paying for most of a State Summer Games for us at CMU. If we finish $100,000 shy that’s going to diminish the amount of athletes that we can help serve come the State Summer Games and later in the year when it comes to doing other events.”
SOMI is also been posting participant’s submissions on social media in weekly update videos.
