Fraternity plunges for March of Dimes

ADA — Overheard: “It's really not too bad. You just kind of go numb.”

Uh-huh. At least it was for a good cause.

Saturday, the brothers of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity and some of their best friends stripped and jumped into what had been an ice-covered pond at Ohio Northern University. College kids will do anything for a T-shirt, and that good cause. By the end of the day, the group raised more than $1,500 for March of Dimes with its first Polar Plunge.

The plunge was more “splashy” than the way the guys have raised funds in the past, participating in the walk each year put on by the Lima chapter of the March of Dimes.

“The fraternity has done fundraisers for March of Dimes in the past, but we wanted to get an actual event behind the fundraising, get people out, get people exited, something to involve the community, and they've been very supportive,” said fraternity President Michael Spiller, a fifth year senior and pharmacy major.

The plungers were in agreement that the anticipation was worse than the actual plunge. But the plunge looked pretty bad, as guys (and a few girls) walked in the generator-heated tent and stripped down to bathing suits. They jumped by twos and threes, maybe for moral support, taking deep breaths and going in cannon-ball style.

Garrett Gottlieb and Mike Donnelly did just that, showing some true loyalty to the school and fraternity. Why? These two guys have graduated.

“The anticipation is always worse, no matter what you're doing,” Gottlieb said.

It must have been. After they jumped and climbed out of the pond, they jumped right back in.

Mother Nature dumped a few inches of snow overnight, produced a 28-degree day, and the guys hacked through four-inch thick ice to create a little “swimming hole.” Then they installed some makeshift plywood walls to make sure no one got trapped under the ice. Add a certified lifeguard, amused paramedics from Ada-Liberty EMS and a signed liability waiver, and you've got yourself a good time.

For $5, you could make a Delta Sig member jump (so some brothers were doing more than their share). For $12, you could jump yourself and earn the “I survived the Polar Plunge” T-shirt.

Delta Sigma Phi member Mike Beatty raised $25 easily at work from people who wanted to see him freeze. He did his jump and decided he was done.

“You're already cold because you've been out here all day,” said Beatty, a junior nursing major. “It wasn't too bad. But I'm not doing it again.”