(KAIT) PARAGOULD, AR On Saturday, January 25, the city of Paragould hosted its yearly Polar Plunge.
Special Olympics Arkansas is supported in part by this event.
According to Special Olympics Arkansas’s Theresa Book, this is one of their largest fundraising events.
The polar plunge, which involves jumping into pools, lakes, and rivers, is “our biggest fundraiser that we have for the special Olympics Arkansas,” according to the book
The Paragould Community Center hosted this year’s arctic plunge. According to Paragould High School student Kayleigh Fields, she came to help out family members.
Fields stated, “I’m jumping for the Special Olympics because I have an aunt and a cousin in Special Olympics. We come together to support just one event that just means so much to the community and Special Olympics and just how it really impacts people’s lives.”
According to Book, the Paragould neighborhood attends this festival in large numbers.
“This is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, plunges that we have in Northeast Arkansas, and the Paragould plunge has great community support,” Book stated. “The schools also join together and take part.”
Some people made the plunge for the first time.
The immediate shock of it made me feel as though I couldn’t have done it again. “It was worth it despite the extreme cold,” Fields remarked.
The book stated, “I think they checked the water temperature this morning, and it was 46 degrees.”
This year, the Paragon Polar Plunge raised more than $18,000.
