Would you be brave enough to jump into freezing water if it meant that you could help someone else continue living their life and achieving their dream?
If the answer is yes, you may want to sign up for the second annual Polar Plunge being held at Algonquin College on Feb. 27 in partnership with the Ontario Law Enforcement Torch Run and the Ottawa Police Service.
The event is being held to raise money and awareness for Special Olympics, which is the top charity of choice for law enforcement associations around the world.
Polar Plunge was launched in early 2015 by Special Olympics Ontario as one of the many ways to continue raising awareness and funds for special athletes. Last year in particular, the Polar Plunge was part of a floor-hockey championship hosted by the City of Ottawa.
“It’s a critical event to raise money for Special Olympics athletes,” said Ottawa Police Inspector John McGetrick. “If we don’t raise the money, the athletes don’t play in their events and these athletes travel, they play in local games, provincial games, there’s national games in Newfoundland this year and they also participate in world games.”
“If they don’t have money, they don’t go. It’s that simple. The more money we raise, the better off they are.”
McGetrick has been involved with the Special Olympics chapter in Ontario for about five years now, helping with fundraising and sponsoring events for this important cause.
He said that Algonquin College was chosen to play host to the second Polar Plunge event this year due to the Ottawa Police Service’s partnership with the college’s Police and Public Safety Institute, and that coming together to host this event would provide an excellent opportunity to further strengthen relations between the service and the school’s police foundations program.
McGetrick said he would like to encourage every student at Algonquin to come out and participate in this upcoming event in some way or another.
“If you’re participating, we encourage you to generate as much sponsorship and support as you can,” said McGetrick. “Even if students generate $50 or $100 in support, it’s huge. Every little bit of money helps and the more we get, the better off are the athletes.”