SOMO News

MARYLAND HEIGHTS – The 18^th Annual Maryland Heights Polar Plunge on Saturday, Feb. 24 in Maryland Heights was a splashing success, raising $108,961 to date. A total 389 brave men and women from around the area donned Hawaiian-themed costumes and swimwear to take a chilly dip into Creve Coeur Lake. We also had 45 runners come out for our Polar Bear Strut 5k, which raised an additional $3,097. The weekend total came out to $112,040. Their Reason for Freezin’ was the athletes of Special Olympics Missouri (SOMO).

Online fundraising is still ongoing. Donations can be made on our online fundraising page!

“We had a beautiful day for our Polar Plunge,” Plunge Coordinator Kellen Wolters said. “It was amazing to see the St. Louis community come together and raise funds for our Special Olympics Missouri athletes.”

Top individual fundraisers:

• Jason Flanery
• Dave Peterson
• Kirk Halveland

Top team fundraisers:

• Top Community Team – Heartland Heroes
• Top Law Enforcement Team – Hazelwood Police Department
• Top Fundraising School – North Tech

Competition for the Golden Plunger was steep this year. Participants were encouraged to come in costume and compete for the chance to take home the “Golden Plunger.”

• Community Group – Heartland Heroes
• Law Enforcement Group – CMPA Class 209
• School Group – Festus High School Student Council

SOMO was lucky to have a Plunge ambassador helping with this event. Our Plunge Ambassador for this year’s Plunge was Glenn Plank. He is a SOMO athlete, and he worked for months to help spread awareness of the Plunge!

This year’s event was held in conjunction with Maryland Heights and Hazelwood Police Departments.

Thank you so much to our sponsors!

• Our Polar Level sponsors are Premiere Rentals, Special School Districts of St. Louis and Fox2/KPLR.
• Our Tundra Level sponsor is Hollywood Casino.

For more information about the Polar Plunge, visit somo.org/plunge!

You can fill out our Polar Plunge survey here!