CHARLO – Folks will be jumping into freezing water for the annual Special Olympics Polar Plunge across Montana.
The Charlo School District took an approach similar to the ice bucket challenge for this year’s fundraiser. About 200 students and teachers stood beside the field on Thursday to watch English teacher Eli Redecker get dunked.
The plunge started with a drawing for a lucky student to pour a small bucket of freezing water on the teacher. The school then filled a tractor with ice water to dump on a teacher.
Students voted and made donations throughout the week to decide who would get the chilly water.
Special Olympics Tribal Director April Charlo says this different approach to the fundraiser helped the whole community get involved.
“The whole school was involved — the teachers who aren’t special education teachers, the students who aren’t in the special education classroom,” Charlo said.
“They were all together and they were all enjoying the spirit of Special Olympics and what it can bring to a school and a school community.,” Charlo added.
The Charlo Special Olympics team is currently snowshoeing and preparing for the winter invitational in February.
-Katie Miller reporting for MTN News
