Taking the plunge

The wind felt cold enough to burn the skin, but it didn't stop four young men from delivering on a promise.

Johnathan Meyers, Lance LeRoux, Jeff Vineham, and Gerard Dunphy felt compelled by recent events in Haiti to do something to help. Mr. Meyers said he thought it should be something out of the ordinary - something people might pay to watch.

With that, Mr. Meyers and three friends decided to organize a fundraiser.

"I said maybe if we organized a polar dip, I think Stephenville might be game for that, because I didn't think they had something like that here before," he said.

With that, Mr. Meyers and friends set out to fundraise as much as they could for the cause. Over $500 later, they found themselves on a beach on a snowy February day, faced with the reality of running into the freezing Atlantic in little but their underwear and shoes.

He says the event brought more spectators to the beach that day then they thought it would.

"I wanted to draw a big crowd, but I was expecting about 30 people or so but there was a lot more than 30 people there. I thought it was fantastic."

Heated vehicles waited nearby to warm the dippers once they came out of the ocean. Mr. Meyer's parents came in from Corner Brook for the event, his father standing on the shoreline with a blanket in hand waiting to receive his son from the frigid temperatures.

Mr. Meyers said to his and his friends' surprise, the water wasn't as cold as they expected.

"The general rule of thumb is the air outside the water is usually colder than what the water is," he said. "So once we jumped in it wasn't that bad."

Mr. Meyers said he heard from several people after the event expressed an interest in polar dipping or forming a club.

"The thought process behind that was if there's more people in this for more fundraisers we can raise more money," he said.

Mr. Meyers, Mr. LeRoux and Mr. Vineham are all students at the Bay St. George Campus of College of the North Atlantic. Mr. Dunphy is a Grade 12 student at Stephenville High School. Neither school was affiliated with the polar dip event.

reporter@thegeorgian.ca