More than 400 hearty souls braved the frigid waters and the very windy shore of North Hempstead Beach in Port Washington, to raise money for the Special Olympics. In the past the group has raised as much as $70,000 and hopefully this year it will surpass that amount.
Included in the mass of “plungers” is always North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kai-man along with his wife, Kim, and this year, their very brave 5-year-old daughter, Iyana, as well as their son Shaun, but he “plunged” with his Great Neck North High School group.
Some groups even came as far as Brewster, New York and had much fun meeting supervisor Kaiman and decking themselves out in all different kinds of children’s tubes.
Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano arrived to watch the festivities along with North Hempstead Town Clerk Leslie Gross, John Darcy of Clark Garden fame, Town Receiver of Taxes Charles Berman and Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel.
The Irish bagpipes played as the group was led into the water, much like the pied piper. They went in fast and came out even faster because that water was beyond cold and the wind brutal.
