Go! Do Something Crazy for the Cause
January 2nd, 2008 by Drowsey Monkey
DrowseyMonkey here….
I know it’s not just us crazy Canucks because according to the news this type of thing happens all over the place. It’s good to know that crazy is universal.
It’s the annual Polar Bear Dip! Yep, that’s when crazy people strip down to their bathing suits and jump into a freezing cold body of water - in the picture above it’s Lake Ontario.
Why..oh why you ask? Well for charity of course. The Toronto dip into Lake Ontario raised about $12,000 last year for Habitat for Humanity. The target this year is $15,000.
Approximately 100 people took the plunge in Toronto on January 1st 2008. I admire these people! The most I’ve done for charity is a marathon walk and I thought that was tough…24 kilometers in the summer heat. But jumping into the icy waters this time of year? Yikes!
What have you done for charity…or what would you do? Any crazy Polar Bear’s out there?
Talk about nippy! Yikes!!!
There is a link on my blog to the Breast Cancer Site where they will make a donation to help fund mammagrams for needy women everytime you click on the button! I would like to become more involved in this cause in 2008.
That’s a cool idea Olga…I’ll have to go & click!
I have volunteered time and donated money and goods to any number of charities over the years, but I would NEVAH do the polar bear dip! :-b
I guess I’m strictly a tropical model — I just don’t do cold water.
Bobbie
Sorry, not me! Not for the best charitable cause in the world, not for a million dollars, not in a million years… Could I just write a cheque instead?
Blue & Jen - I’m with you! I’ll make a donation from a nice warm spot…like a coffee shop or my livingroom!
If I tried something like that I’d become the poster child for some charitable cause. Probably one that had something to do with mental health.
I once collected 225 buck on a wager at the Pan Pacific Hotel and dropped the winnings in the Salvation Army bucket..well not all of it I deducted 37 bucks for a round of drinks for the boys after the event…:):).. but my heart was in the right place…
I still can’t beleive you really streaked! Really?
who said anything about streaking….Drowswey I’m shocked….:):):);)
oops…just my ‘over-active’ imagination…or maybe it was wishful thinking…not sure….
LOL
I thought I saw something WHIZ by me that night! Was that Crusty?!?!? Dang - that Redneck can HAUL BUNS!!!!
Truth be told, my insane …er… brave and public-spirited sister has done a Polar Bear Dip for charity — twice! My contribution was to hold her towel and a monster-big coffee thermos. Which brings us to your coffee-shop thought, Drowsey Monkey — really, the very least we can do is chip in the price of a weekly latte, no? There, a good (belated) New Year’s Resolution!
Twice! I’m impressed!!!
I’ve done nothing
but Jim as in Jim and Em has done loads upon loads of stuff like this.
tell all squire!
Hey Drowsey (& Hi Gary) great post and Em here - good for you on the walk in the heat - beats the polar plunge, right - Madness!
Jim is a big fan of a sub zero plunge pool after a sauna but choose to stay in for 10 minutes rather than plunging! He has yet to do this post xmas plunge…over the last 6 years he has ran the London, New York and Dubai Marathons, climbed Kilimanjoro without oxygen but with TUSKA beer, cycled from Bangkok to Cambodia, cycled through France from St Malo down to Dordogne and dabbled in a bit of Tsunami relief work and attempted to climbs Europes highest Mountian, Mount Elbrus in Russia….
Honestly though - he openly admits it is as much for his own adventure than the charities that these events may hopefull benefit……
More to follow I’m sure!
WOW good on you Jim and at least you admit the benefit to you as well as others!
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Drowsey and can we expect to see you taking the dip?
Yes…Jim you big show off! LOL Good for you!!! I’m not that adventurous.
Fab - um…NO WAY!
Moi, show off…
Oh, go on then! :0)
They have to be nuts but it does look like fun….
For Charity
I used to volunteer with the Royal Blind Society… blind Cricket and such.. fund raising etc
Until the people running got to big for their heads and thought they owned the place at which time I left …
I also did Volunteer with the Wilderness Society for a time but once again the people in charged tended to think they were God and all mighty … so I told them where they could put themselves in no polite terms…..
I have helped with various causes refugee reloctions, clothes drives you name it…
But I am so it ….
Charities are far becoming self serving entities which although they benefit some seem to benefit themselves the most….
Even the Church Charity organisations and Non Profit are making profits… using there tax free status to acumulate wealth and property putting it all back into the charities name and making a killing….
It is sad to say but I past the Charitable Hill…
I climb it
I helped it…
I nurtured it…
I got to the top of it…
Slide down the other side…
And Said “OH Fudge IT!”
AC
Oh no! Well I am sorry you experienced the ‘not so good’ side of the charity and non-profit world. I’ve worked in non-profit most of my career so I know there can be a negative side…but it’s like that with anything. Hopefully the good out-weighs the bad.
I have run into those who take on a type of ‘ownership’ within an organization and that makes it difficult for others…and ultimately for the cause.
Looks MADNESS to me Drowsey and have you ever been tempted to take the plunge yourself?
We had a rocking debate here at flowers on the topic of charity htat led to 150 or so comments and some interesting thoughts. With the exception of a bit of fund raising and rattling tins as a boy that was about it for me charity wise.
I’ve never done it dave…and don’t intend to! I’ve been involved with charities and volunteering since I was a teenager (and I’m 45 now, so that’s quite a while). I’m a big believer in support the community in which you live…it’s just an obvious thing for me. Plus I work in the non-profit sector…so it’s my life I guess you’d say. I worked in corporate & government jobs as well…paid much better but that’s hardly what matters in the long run.