Funds pouring in despite cancelling polar bear dip

Organizers are encouraging participants to take a cold-water plunge on their own

Organizers of a Kelowna Polar Bear Dip have raised half of their $50,000 goal even though the event will not be held as usual on New Year’s Day.

Donations to the Community Recreational Initiatives Society “Freezin for a Reason” campaign were closing in on $25,000 as of Monday.

The online fundraising drive, promoted on the group’s Facebook page, continues until 3 p.m. this Friday.

For the past six New Year’s Day, hundreds of people have gathered on Kelowna beaches and then charged into the near-freezing water. Such mass gatherings are not possible now because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In early November, CRIS asked people to run into the lake on their own, away from other people, or engage in similarly chilly challenges, such as taking an ice bath. Funds raised go toward helping CRIS assist people with disabilities to go on outdoor adventures in speciallydesigned equipment.

This Friday, two CRIS representatives will go for their own Polar Bear dip with their antics at an undisclosed location to be broadcast live on the group’s Facebook page. There are said to be ways to encourage the two to stay in the 5 C water.

For more information and to donate, see CRIS Kelowna Polar Bear Dip on Facebook.

Peachland also normally has a Polar Bear Dip on Jan. 1 but the town’s event has been cancelled because of the pandemic.

Photo contributed A lone dipper takes the plunge into Okanagan Lake in this video posted to the website of a charity that normally hosts a Jan. 1 Polar Bear Swim in Kelowna. The mass gathering can’t occur Friday because of the pandemic, but a virtual fundraising drive is still taking place.