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Brr! For a Cure attracts hundreds
This year’s plunge raises funds for Relay for Life teams
lake MILTON
There was overflow parking all over the town by early Saturday afternoon.
The American Legion’s lot on North River Road was full, so the fire station was next. Cars were filing in there, and people were waiting along the road for the next shuttle bus to take them to the Harry Meshel Picnic Grounds at Lake Milton.
Among them were Sean Reed and Bryan Brunson of Akron.
They are two perfectly normal people. What they were about to do, however, was not normal at all.
They were going to jump into the frigid lake. So were hundreds of other people.
Why? If you ever saw news reports of people climbing out of freezing water in the middle of winter after a “polar-bear plunge,” you may have asked yourself that question.
For Reed, the answer is a serious one. “I got a lot of family members as fighters, and my wife is involved — she works for the American Cancer Society,” he said.
This polar-bear plunge, called Brr! For the Cure, raises money for Cancer Society events — and this year, its fifth, the money is earmarked only for Relay for Life teams.
Reed and Brunson had never done the plunge before.
“Yes, I’m very scared,” Reed said. “It could be the last time.”
The two raised between $600 and $700 in pledges on the event’s Web page.
Not everyone making their way to the Lake Milton shoreline was steeling themselves for a cold plunge.
Plenty of people were planning on standing in the cheering section, and that’s where Elaine Lower of Leetonia intended to be.
Her daughter had organized a group from St. Paul’s Lutheran Church there to come up for the big chill.
“If she’s crazy enough to do it, I’m crazy enough to watch her,” Lower said.
At the lake, an impressive number of people lined the shore, waiting for the 2 p.m. start time. They were dancing, some in crazy costumes, some in shorts and flip flops, to music on a loud speaker.
Last year’s Brr! For a Cure had 400 participants, said JoAnn Crank, the American Cancer Society’s Senior Director of Relay for Life in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.
She wasn’t sure, she said, how many people would be participating this year, because many didn’t register until they showed up.
The event has grown over five years, she said.
“When we started this, we raised $8,000,” she said. “Last year, we raised $65,000.”
Volunteers also sell hot dogs, s’mores, soup, cookies and jewelry to raise money, she said.
“Yes,” Crank said, she takes the plunge. “It’s cold,” she said. “Once you get up to about your knees, you’re numb. And you’re so pumped up from doing it, it’s an awesome experience.”
It was an organized experience as well. A hole big enough for only about 10 people at a time was cut in the ice by the shore. It was 5 feet deep for jumpers at one end and 2 to 3 feet deep at the other for people who preferred to walk in.
The first group in were members of the Milton Township Volunteer Fire Department in rescue suits, who stayed there as each small group of plungers jumped in, then hurried out.
There were even some tears as people ran to changing tents, where heaters blasted.
“It was freezing,” said Erin Acklin of Girard as she pulled on warm clothes in the women’s tent. “I did it for my dad after seeing him struggle with cancer for the past couple of months. Cold, but worth it.”