Successful Polar Plunge hosted on Jan. 1
27 people dove into the freezing cold waters at Mon Dye Boat Landing in Phil Campbell on New Year’s Day to help raise money for college scholarships. Photo by Bart Moss.
By Bart Moss
For the FCT
What did you do on New Year’s Day? Sit in the recliner and watch football? Play cards? Eat a lot? Throw on your bathing suit, head down to the lake, and jump into the ice cold water?
The last option is what 27 brave souls did on the first day of 2014 at the 4th annual Polar Plunge at Mon Dye Bottoms on Bear Creek Lake in Phil Campbell.
Just over one hundred people were in attendance to watch the annual ritual.
The annual event, sponsored by Citizens for Phil Campbell and organized by Bruce Foreman, raises money for a scholarship for a deserving senior at Phil Campbell High School.
“I used to do this in Decatur and thought it would be a good idea for our town,” Foreman said.
“This is a beautiful scene, it’s for a good cause, and gives people something fun and exciting to do on New Year’s Day.”
Lynn Landers, a member of the Phil Campbell City Council, participated in the plunge for the second consecutive year.
“It is a great cause,” Landers said.
“We join together each year to help do a little bit to help one of our school’s college-bound seniors.”
As for the plunge?
“The anticipation is the worst part of it,” Landers said. “It’s cold, very cold. The first time I did it I kept thinking, ‘What in the world am I doing’? Once you do it though it’s very refreshing and exhilarating.”
It wasn’t just adults that participated in this year’s plunge. There were young plungers as well.
“That was so much fun,” nine-year-old Hunter Potts said after emerging from the water.
His eleven-year-old brother, Austin, agreed, but not with the same enthusiasm.
“It was fun, but it was freezing cold,” he said.
