65 TAKE THE "PLUNGE"
Monday, February 27th, 2006 -- 12:22 PM
Another successful Neillsville Winter Carnival concluded Sunday.The Neillsville Rotary Club?s third annual Polar Bear raised nearly $8,000 for area projects.
While the sun was out, the temperature hovered around 20-degrees. Still, over 60 people jumped through a hole in the ice and into the frigid waters of O? Neill Creek.
"This is absolutely fantastic," gushed Steve Walter of the Rotary Club as he looked at the large crowd.
The fundraising portion of the Plunge was done a bit differently this year. Instead of having all the donations flow through the Rotary Club, area non-profit groups were allowed to raise funds for their own projects.
"Since we're basically a donation group anyway, we decided to put the plunge out to the groups," Walter said. "We're going to give back 125% out to the (top-raising) group, 110% to the second."
One of the groups getting in on the action was the Calvary Lutheran Church Youth Group, led by UW-Extension agent Matt Jorgensen.
"I'm a little nervous," Jorgensen admitted just before splashing into the water.
Special Olympics Neillsville raised over $1,930 in donations and were awarded the extra payout from the Rotary Club for a total of $2,180 raised. Calvary Lutheran Sr. High Youth group raised over $1,400 and the Mexico 2006 Student Group raised nearly $1,000.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.