On January 21st over 100 people ran into the cold Potomac River as part of CCAN’s 7th Annual Polar Bear Plunge. We braved the ice and snow (about an inch worth) that came down the night before, and leftover light rain, to do the first of these seven plunges with precipitation on the ground.

The temperature this year, at 33-34 degrees or so, was downright balmy compared to last year’s 18-19. It sure was cold in that water, though!

There were a lot of highlights of this year’s plunge for me:

-10 year old Rebekah Rowe, four-time plunger, speaking from the heart (without notes) in the pre-plunge rally

-Dr. James Hansen with a huge smile on his face post-plunge

-Rev. Yearwood’s inspiring pre-plunge speech, which included a reading of new lyrics to How Great Thou Art (that I wrote a couple of weeks ago)

-Seeing everyone anxiously but happily counting with me as I led the “10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1” countdown on the National Harbor beach seconds before we all took the plunge

-The mixture of very young and very old who took part. The youngest this year that I heard about was an eight-year-old boy and the oldest was a 75-year-old woman — plunge veteran and superstar Ms. Adelaide Miller

-The great spirit of unity and determination that I felt throughout the event

Many thanks to all the volunteers and sponsors who helped to make the day possible: lori hill event productions, Perfect Settings, Waste Neutral, Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company, and Mark’s Kitchen. We really could not have done it without the support of these wonderful businesses.

And thanks to Lauren Glickman for filming and editing a great three minute video:

http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/blog/my-first-polar-bear-plunge

And while you’re at it, check out our photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chesapeakeclimate/sets/72157629015282551/

We’ve raised, so far, close to $50,000 in online donations and checks. Since this is CCAN’s major grassroots fundraiser of the year, we appreciate all the people who raised and donated money. There’s still time to do so if you go to https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/miketidwell/keepwintercold2012

Hope to see many more at this awesome event next year!