Not even a pandemic could stop the annual Maryland State Police Polar Bear Plunge. But it did look a little different this year.
For the past 24 years, thousands of people would be sponsored to run in to the chilly waters at Sandy Point Park near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to raise money for the Special Olympics.
While the crowd couldn’t gather at the beach this year, they still took part by getting sponsored for virtual plunges.
Some did the traditional dash into the water at the beach, in private visits that they videoed and uploaded to the plunge’s social media sites.
Others chose creative ways to do the plunge at home such as jumping into swimming pools, being splashed with ice water in the freezing temperatures, getting into dunk tanks, in the shower or even inflatable pools in the snow.
Hundreds of videos were submitted by more than 4,000 registered plungers who collected donations for their chilly romps.
The event had a goal of raising $2 million, and came close to reaching that goal. Together the plungers raised over $1.76 million to support the over 8,700 Special Olympics athletes in Maryland.
If you didn’t take part in the plunge event, you can still get involved. You can vote for the Plunger of the Year. Each day this week there will be a new series of plunge videos featured and you can vote for your favorites.
A winner will be named at the end of the week.
