CARROLLTON, Mo.-Three employees of Central Missouri Community CU recently raisedn money for a local nonprofit, HELP Services, by participating in a Polar Bear Plunge at Carrollton Recreational Lake. The trio jumped into the water on a 20-degree day. Below, Tellers Michelle Woods and Beth Ramos, and Branch Manager Felicia Farabee, share their experience.
CU Journal: How did you come to be involved in this fundraiser?
Woods: We were looking for ideas to help our communities around us and it sounded like a fun thing to do and the money went to a good thing. I am not sure whose idea it was.
Ramos: Actually our senior loan officer, Jessica Miller, who is from Carroll County mentioned it to us as an idea to help out her community. Our teller supervisor, Jessica O'Connell, is the one who talked us into actually doing it. She was planning on doing it with us, but ended up becoming ill, or so she says.
CUJ: Had any of you ever participated in something like this before?
Woods: No, I think this was the first for all of us!
CUJ: What was the temperature that day, and the temperature of the water? Anyone get cold feet(!) about participating? How do you prepare?
Woods: The temperature outside was about 21 degrees; not sure what the water temp was. One of our employees got sick so she decided it would not be a good idea for her to jump in cold water, but she was really bummed out that she could not do it but she came to watch and be our cheerleader! As far as preparing I think it is all a mindset and make sure you bring warm clothes to put on after.
Ramos: I am not sure what the temperature of the water was, but I know someone said that eight inches of ice had to be cut through in the lake to clear an area for jumping. I tried to get cold feet about doing it but the others wouldn't allow it. I actually made them hold my hand when going in, so I couldn't chicken out.
Farabee: They had to cut out ice that was five inches thick. The three of us who went in wanted to go first so we wouldn't chicken out, but we did get to go second. There is no way to prepare for this.
CUJ: What's it like when you hit the water (besides just being cold?) How long are you in? How long to get warmed up when you're out?
Woods: I had shorts and a t-shirt on so my body was already kind of cold and "blue" so when I got in the water it wasn't bad. We were not in the water very long and I think it was my toes that took the longest to get warm, about two-to-three hours.
Ramos: Going in, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be; even though I was the first to scream "Get me out of here!" The worst part was walking out and the cold air hitting me. There was a warm trailer with heaters for us to change quickly into dry clothes, which helped speed up the warming process. I think the coldest and numbest part of my body was my toes, but it only lasted for about 30 minutes.
Farabee: We walked in this year and it wasn't too bad until we turned around and walked out; then the cold air hit and it did raise some goose bumps. We were able to go to a heated trailer to change. And as I went in, it seemed very warm. I really didn't get cold until later that evening.
CUJ: Any advice for future CU Polar Bear Plungers?
Woods: It is a lot of FUN! The best advice I can think of is "Don't think about it too long and just jump!"
Ramos: Think of it as riding a roller coaster for the first time; at least that's what I compared it to. It's scary and easy to get cold feet about doing it, but once you go through with it, you realize it wasn't as bad as you thought it was going to be, and it is kind of exhilarating afterwards.
Farabee: Just do it. We hope to have a bigger group next year, if they don't get cold feet.
