Yogi Bear Returns To 16th Annual Polar Plunge Next Saturday To Honor Athlete Tim Barrow
The 16th annual Polar Plunge is taking place next Saturday, February 17th at 1pm at the Sand Bar and Grill off Long lake road. This years plunge will be dedicated to Tim T Barrow the first athlete to ever take the plunge who passed away this fall.
Back in 2011, the early days of the plunge, the committee decided that they wanted more people, more athletes to do the plunge, so coach Brett Burke asked his basketball team who was willing to take the plunge and Tim was the first person to raise his hand. That year, Brett jumped as Yogi bear and Tim was Booboo bear and together they raised over $4,000 that year. Tim went on to plunge for 8 more years, occasionally with his brothers and overall, he’s raised over $20,000 for Special Olympics.
To honor Tim’s dedication to the plunge, his brothers and Yogi put a team together in efforts to make it the best plunge possible. The Michigan State Police, Alpena Post, have been assisting to make this event possible.
“The State police, Alpena Post, we assist the Special Olympics Michigan to raise funds for the Polar Plunge event. All the funds, all the proceeds from the event, will go to Special Olympics athletes for them to participate in their sport.” said Jason Kunath, Trooper of Michigan State Police.
The registration fee to take the plunge is $100 and participants will be jumping into a lake. Many precautions are being taken to keep the plungers safe.
“The police dive team will be there along with the Alpena Township fire department to assist the plungers getting out of the cold water. We’ll also have paramedics on scene in the event that there is any sort of emergency so they’ll be able to assist” said Kunath.
Yogi and the Barrow family are appreciative of the support and hope to see you at the Tim T Barrow Memorial plunge. If you’d like to support the plunge fundraiser you can go to www.classy.org/fundraiser/5157529 to donate or contact Brett at 989-255-8341 to learn more.
