Talk about giving of yourself. Last Sunday, over 100 UB students, faculty and staff met at Hamburg Beach to brave the icy waters of Lake Erie for “Freezin’ for a Reason,” a stunt designed to raise money for Special Olympics New York.
We caught up with Max Bacher from Orchard Park, a pre-med senior at the University at Buffalo, who went out the furthest and stayed out the longest. Max (top image, right), hardly needed to paint his body blue to show his UB colors, as he ended up that way anyway after his 5-minute wade into the chilly lake.
“We went out to where the guys in scuba suits were,” Max explains. “They looked kinda’ lonely out there by themselves.”
So, how does one train for an event like this – does it involve months of long, cold showers? “We just woke up nice and early, got out there and had fun,” Max says. “It wasn’t as cold as you’d think once you were in up to your neck, but you didn’t realize how cold you were until you got out.”
Put it this way – Max wouldn’t have been able to pick his own hands out of a line-up by color.
Did his mother know about this? “Yeah, she was very proud of me.” Max raised money and gave some of his own.
Amy Schedlbauer, associate director of development for Special Olympics says about $122,000 was raised through around 800 “plungers” – tripled from last year. “We raised more than they did in the New York City plunge – $80K!” she proudly says. That’s the spirit, Buffalo. Groups interested in taking their own plunge can sign up here.
“I couldn’t feel my legs at all. It was scary fun, but I’ll do it again,” Max promises.
Images in body of story: Glenn E. Murray, Esq.