Raiders take the plunge

Posted 3/2/22

By Bruce Karnick [email protected] The Polar Bear Plunge is filled with a century-plus of history that goes back to 1920 in Vancouver, BC. What started as a way to celebrate the new year has …

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Raiders take the plunge

Posted

By Bruce Karnick

[email protected]

The Polar Bear Plunge is filled with a century-plus of history that goes back to 1920 in Vancouver, BC. What started as a way to celebrate the new year has evolved to be a great way to celebrate and raise funds for charitable organizations. In Minnesota, the Polar Bear Plunge raises funds for Special Olympics MN.

Raiders Matthew Carda, Will Meyer, Ben Witt, Ben Clemens and Brenden Freiermuth took the plunge with Ray Kennedy, Ian Kennedy, Jim Hill, Sam Witt, members of Team Yup in memory of Jeff Schommer, along with members from the Hastings Police Department, Dakota County Deputy Jen Lenarz and others.

This is not the first time this group of boys have joined the plunge fun. Ben Witt has nine under his belt, Sam Witt has five. Freiermuth, Clemens, and Meyer each have three and this was Carda’s second. The boys are also unified partners on the Sharks flag football team.

The plunge team started with Ben Witt honoring his older brother Sam, a 2019 Hastings Grad, as a 10-year-old and gradually he started recruiting his friends to join. Knowing this team, the challenge was not getting the kids to agree to support Sam and the Special Olympics, but it might have been a little tough to get the first three to agree to jump into freezing water the first time. OK, probably not, the kids on this list are awesome kids that surely jumped at the chance when asked, pun intended.

The boys collected donations and plunged in the South Metro Polar Plunge with the Hastings Sharks. It may be too late to pledge to the plunge team, but the Hastings Sharks are always accepting donations for their athletes to participate in sports and the Special Olympics. Find them on Facebook MNSOHastingsSharks.