2011 Polar Bear Plunge!

Pre-Plunge with my "suit" on. I love tearaway pants.

So THIS is what I got myself into on Saturday morning.  The temperature in the air was in the high 40's, with water at 37 degrees -- a whole one degree warmer than last year's plunge.

I was among 151 plungers who took a stroll into the frigid water as part of the fundraiser for the YMCA of Centre County.  The things we do for charity. :-p

The State College Young Professionals (who I plunged with) won the award for the most money raised by a group/organization for the second year in a row with $5,132!  Yay!  Almost $2,000 more in donations than last year! Woo hoo!

Thank you to everyone who sponsored me with donations! Thank you to OhMiBod for being awesome and sponsoring me! So of course I gave them a body part for the donation.

In total, $40,500 was raised this year!  I'm excited for next year!

Post-Plunge. Cold, wet, and still smiling.

And hopefully I'll be healthier for next year's Plunge.  I think I may have angered my cold cuz I feel like ass as I write this post.  Ugh.  It was for a good cause....

8th Annual "Polar Bear Plunge"

So on the first Saturday of December, over 150 people gathered at the boat dock at Bald Eagle State Park to plunge themselves into a lake for the YMCA of Centre County's 8th Annual "Polar Bear Plunge". And of course the State College Young Professionals brought our magic (or insanity).

The air was 29 degrees and the water was 36 this year. Brrrrr!

I was shaking people down for donations all month long, even "renting" out body parts to local businesses. Heck yeah! All that so I could go in as a Super Plunger -- plunging 3 times!

And I definitely went in for my three plunges -- going in twice with the Super Plungers and then once with the Young Pros. The first two times weren't too bad. That third time was a doozie cuz I had a few minutes to get semi-dry and warm before our plunge. When I went in for that third plunge, I think my muscles seized. My one partner pretty much had to drag me out of the water cuz my legs did not want to move. And then as my spotter tried to dry me off and get me warm, anything that touched my skin felt like knives. Ouch. (can you see the pain in my eyes? and that's just after the first two plunges)

It was all totally worth it. I now have bragging rights cuz I not only went into that water, I went in THREE times!

Plus, my awesome donors helped me hit and exceed my mark with $765 in donations! They also helped the Young Pros win the award for "Most Money Raised by a Group/Organization" with just over $3,200 raised! Woo hoo! Definitely not bad for only our second time participating. :-)

I'm so excited for next year's plunge!

I was AUCTIONED OFF!

On Nov. 17th, I participated in the State College Young Professionals' "Fall Collection: A Date Auction" to benefit our local Second Mile. And yes, I was one of 20 people being auctioned off for "dates".

Our goal was to raise $4,000. Some thought it was a pretty lofty goal. Could we actually pull it off?

Oh, WE DID! We raised over $4,200 with just the winning bids alone! :-) That didn't include the portion of the cover charge that was going to the charity as well! How awesome is that?! :-)

I'd love to thank everyone that came out to support us. Even if you didn't win or bid, just coming and paying cover helped us exceed our goal.

I'd love to thank the folks at the Cellblock for letting us use the club for the auction and for providing everyone with such awesome service!

THANK YOU to the local restaurants and businesses that donated gift certificates for the "dates".

I'd love to thank the fellow auctionees for putting themselves up on the auction block. I definitely don't mine making a fool out of myself for a good cause (this was the second date auction I participated in -- the first was for a THON fundraiser). Plus, I think we all got some great "date" activities. :-)

And, I'd love to THANK the folks from the SCYP who put the entire event together! It ran so smoothly and looked effortless.