Polar Plunge participants take dip to help Special Olympics

The only thing Preston Clark wanted for his birthday was to raise money for Special Olympics and take a plunge.

That’s just what the Cape Girardeau 10-year-old got to do on his birthday Saturday, the same day of the 13th annual Polar Plunge at Lake Boutin at Trail of Tears State Park.

Clark said he first saw information about the Polar Plunge on a billboard and decided it was something he wanted to do.

“He just wanted to help individuals with disabilities and he wanted to really be a part of that,” Clark’s mother, Angie Alford, said. “When he saw the billboard, he said, ‘Mom, that’s what I want for my birthday. That’s all I want.’”

She said her son was disappointed when he found out he had to be 10 years old to plunge, but that was before he realized his 10th birthday was on the day of the plunge.

Logan Gardner of Sikeston, Missouri, plays with a camera before the start of the 13th annual Polar Plunge aka "The Greatest Plunge on Earth" on Saturday at Lake Boutin at Trail of Tears State Park.Jacob Wiegand

“It was pretty special for us,” Alford said.

Clark was one of dozens of plungers to take a cold dip into Lake Boutin in what was dubbed “The Greatest Plunge on Earth.”

Penny Williams, development director of the southeast area of Special Olympics Missouri, said the goal of this year’s event was to raise $40,000 for the organization’s athletes.

Williams said a little more than one hour before plunge time about 150 people had preregistered to make the plunge into the lake.

Special Olympics athletes compete in sports year round, Williams said, and funds raised from the Polar Plunge, the organization’s biggest fundraiser of the year, will help cover such things as transportation, uniforms, meals and other expenses of competition.

Preston Clark, 10, of Cape Girardeau throws up his arms after getting out of the water during the 13th annual Polar Plunge aka "The Greatest Plunge on Earth" on Saturday at Lake Boutin at Trail of Tears State Park. Proceeds from the event benefit athletes of the Special Olympics.Jacob Wiegand

Williams said the money stays local for athletes in a 14 county area of Southeast Missouri.

Melody Gardner of Sikeston, Missouri, mother of Special Olympics athlete and plunger Logan Gardner, said her son has been making the plunge and raising money for Special Olympics for six years.

“This is his way of being able to give back to everything with Special Olympics,” Melody said of her son, who competes in multiple sports with the organization.

But Melody said she tells her son it’s about more than playing the sports.

“He just loves to be out with the people,” she said. “I always say he entertains just as much as it’s about the sports.”

jwiegand@semissourian.com

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