Polar Plunge in Rehoboth Beach raises $1 million for Special Olympics Delaware

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. – 3,652 participants sprinted into the brisk water and cold winds Sunday afternoon in Rehoboth Beach for the Annual Delaware Special Olympics Polar Plunge, helping to raise over a million dollars for the group’s mission to provide equipment, training, and competitions for special needs athletes across the state.

“Every dollar from this plunge stays right here, and provides for free sports training and competition opportunities for children’s and adults with disabilities, we have more than 4,200 athletes that get free equipment free uniforms free competition, and free facilities thanks to events like this,” said Special Olympics Delaware Media Director Jon Buzby.

Buzby tells 47 ABC that many area businesses open up during their off-season just for the weekend, due to the sheer number of participants in the event.

“A lot of them open up this is the only week they open up in the winter season because they know they will get the number of businesses that makes it worth their while,” he said.

Buzby says they had a goal heading into the event to smash their million dollars raised record for the second year in a row.

He says they were able to reach that goal in no small part due to Ervin Levin and his wife Philis who pledge to double and even triple all donations made on-site during the event, and in the weeks that follow online.

Levin tells 47 ABC his family has a special connection to the program and has seen its impact firsthand.

“We have a son in the program his name is Jamie he’s 50 years old,” he said adding “to him it’s activities he doesn’t normally have other than his day program he sits in the house not doing a whole lot but this gets him out meeting people, in competition and does a lot for him.”

Buzby says the record-breaking fundraising amount will be used towards expanding the number of athletes that know about the program and helping to recruit more volunteers and venues to help host competitions.

“For every athlete we have we have 6 other athletes waiting to get involved in the program and are unable to for one reason and so our big initiative is to cut down on that number of athletes waiting to be part of the program,” Buzby said.