10 reasons you absolutely can’t miss out on Plunge season this year

The Polar Plunge comes to Lambeau

For the first time in the history of the Special Olympics Wisconsin Polar Plunges, the Green Bay Polar Plunge will take place at historic Lambeau Field! On February 24 you can join fellow Packers fans in taking the ultimate Lambeau Leap in support of our more than 10,000 Special Olympics Wisconsin athletes at the Johnsonville Tailgate Village at Lambeau Field!

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2018 Polar Plunge Ambassador

This year’s Polar Plunge Ambassador is none other than SOWI snowboarder extraordinaire Daina Shilts! Her red hot 2017 started with her earning a silver at the X Games in Aspen and two gold medals at the World Winter Games in Austria. In the summer Shilts found herself standing on stage in front of the world’s biggest sports stars alongside Michelle Obama at the ESPYs in Los Angeles. The year then concluded with her as the face of a national holiday campaign.

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The Polar Bear takes the Polar Plunge

After being introduced to SOWI when he held his first Brian Butch Unified Basketball Camp in Appleton this past summer, Brian Butch (AKA the Polar Bear) is now ready to do the Polar Plunge. That’s right, the Wisconsin basketball legend and newest member of the Wisconsin Herd’s coaching staff will be taking the Oshkosh Polar Plunge with members of SOWI’s own 2018 USA Games basketball.

Brian Butch coaches up SOWI athletes and Unified partners at his basketball camp last year

Keep ‘er movin’

Wisconsin social media celebrity and comedian Charlie Berens of the Manitowoc Minute will be headlining a team of plungers at the Green Bay Polar Plunge in its first year at Lambeau! The best part? You get to be on his team! You can also help vote on the costume he’s going to wear for the big day on February 24. Oh my gosh!

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Berens’ popular web series, Manitowoc Minute

2018 makes for an extra special year to take the plunge

This year’s Polar Plunge season is especially momentous because 2018 will see SOWI send 54 athletes and Unified partners to Seattle for the USA Games in July. To top it off, 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the amazing Special Olympics movement. The 2018 Polar Plunges will honor these great occasions so help us celebrate our athletes and this historic year of the movement by taking the Polar Plunge!

The Kenosha Polar Plunge chair heads to the USA Games

Officer Kate Schaper of the Kenosha Police Department is the chair of the Kenosha Plunge taking place February 3. She also has been selected to represent Wisconsin in the Law Enforcement Torch Run® Final Leg for Special Olympics at the USA Games this summer. Selected for her dedication to the movement, Officer Schaper and her fellow Final Leg runners will traverse the whole state of Washington as Guardians of the Flame before carrying the Flame of Hope into Husky Stadium in Seattle to commence the USA Games Opening Ceremony on July 1. Officer Schaper’s awesome story has already been recognized by SOWI and the Kenosha News. Way to go, Kate!

Officer Kate Schaper (R) at a Torch Run
Officer Kate Schaper (R) at a Torch Run

The one that started it all

2018 will mark the 20th annual Polar Plunge in La Crosse when it takes place March 3. In 1999, a group of plungers started what has now become one of Wisconsin’s biggest winter traditions. In less than 20 years the series has become Special Olympics Wisconsin’s largest fundraiser. Polar Plunges have now raised more than $20 million for SOWI athletes. And it’s all thanks to a rag-tag group of plungers who kicked it off in La Crosse 19 years ago.

Wisconsin Rapids’ inaugural snowshoe walk/run

In Central Wisconsin, hopefully a new tradition is beginning this year when the Wisconsin Rapids Polar Plunge takes place on February 3. In addition to the Polar Plunge, this year’s event will include a new snowshoe walk/run. The one-mile event presented by Ho-Chunk Gaming Nekoosa takes place before the Plunge so extra tough Winter Warriors can participate and then plunge!

Iron Order is at it again

Once again, the Iron Order Motorcycle Club has been doing an amazing job in fundraising for the Green Bay Polar Plunge. After raising an astonishing $18,552 for SOWI athletes in 2017, the team has been back it. They are looking to exceed their 2017 total as they are approaching $18,000 with nearly a month to go. Way to go, Iron Order! We know the athletes appreciate your efforts so much.

Captain Becker looks to defend his Law Enforcement Challenge title

Speaking of bang-up fundraising efforts, Captain Shawn Becker of the Wood County Sheriff’s Office is trying to help his team defend their title in the Law Enforcement Challenge. Last year at the Wisconsin Rapids Polar Plunge, he and his colleagues raised $6,717 for SOWI athletes in the Wausau Polar, more than any other law enforcement team in the state. This year, they have already racked up an impressive $7,474. They’re in a heated competition with the Wisconsin Rapids Polar Plunge presenting sponsors, Trantow Consulting, Inc., who have raised over $9,000.

Captain Becker and his Woods County Sheriff Department plunging team
Captain Becker and his Woods County Sheriff Department plunging team