THUNDER BAY — The Thunder Bay PDR Polar Bear Plunge has raised over $155,000 and counting as of 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.
More than a thousand residents watched the over 400 plungers and 59 teams dive from Port Arthur’s Landing into the icy waters of Lake Superior for local charities.
Kiri Butter, with the CNIB, was on the event’s organizing committee. She said the atmosphere is always great.
“We’re in the pre-plunging, so everybody’s excited and nervous and lots of questions about: 'What is it like? How do I jump in? What should I take?' But yeah, definitely, we have more plungers this year than we did last year,” said Butter in an interview shortly before noon.
Butter said the donations online also looked fantastic and they know they’ll get more and more throughout the event.
“We raised just over $150,000 last year. Our goal was $75,000. So we beat our goal, which is always a happy moment, but, yeah, definitely the more money that comes in,” said Butter.
She added that well over $150,000 was their goal by the end of the day.
“The best thing about this event (is) it’s for charities working together and we divide… the profits from it amongst the four organizations. So we’re able to reach almost everybody in Thunder Bay in some ways with the Special Olympics, CNIB, Roots Community Foods (Centre) and Pro Kids,” said Butter.
Butter said they also have some amazing sponsors like PDR Contracting who are always willing to top it up, as well as a barbecue on-site for the first time this year.
“Halfway Motors is hosting a barbecue for us, so we’ll have the profits coming in from that as well,” said Butter.
Peter Kibzey, the Domtar Ontario Woodlands’s general manager, joined his team for its second year at the PDR’s plunge. He said it’s great to see the number of people coming out and the donations coming in.
“There are four great charities that we just love to support and (are) really pleased with the number of people that are coming,” said Kibzey.
By noon, Kibzey explained that Domtar had raised just over $15,000 for the plunge — the highest of all teams.
“I think it was about $15,000 last year. And we challenged Thunder Bay Pulp and Paper, our Ontario sawmills and the Ministry of Natural Resources and we got two out of the three,” said Kibzey.
“So the sawmill group has raised over $18,000 this year and the MNR has raised over $6000, so a really good challenge that came through.”
He encourages those not signed up this year to sign up next year.
“We need more people that want to help the charities and really, it’s like a one-minute of pain for a whole year of positive outlook for the four charities, so it’s well worth it,” said Kibzey.
Kibzey added that it is not normal for 400 people to jump in Lake Superior in early April, but it’s a lot of fun.
Tony Muia also joined his team, the Serenity Salon Jersey Shores from Thunder Bay, for their first time out. He said they came out, because his team members were talking about how it was a great and cool thing to do to support the city and good causes.
“We thought we’d be the first shop, I guess, to do it in Thunder Bay,” said Muia.
“So we’re challenging all the other salons. Come on, next year. Come and do it.”
Muia explained that they started fundraising in the last few days because they had just entered their team.
“In a few days, we’re close to $1000. I think people were awesome with donating,” said Muia.
For the plunge, he said he was not really sure what to expect since he had never jumped in water this cold before.
However, Muia added that it looked like it was a lot of fun and encouraged people to come out and also have fun.
Donations can still be made online for those coming out or who cannot come out on Sunday.
The event also featured a live feed on the Thunder Bay PDR Polar Bear Plunge Facebook page, where onlookers could watch their friends and family plunge from several different views, including up in a cherry picker.
