‘Ice, Ice Baby’ Lincoln County community members plunge for Special Olympics

DENVER – Rumor has it, there was ice on the pool at Sally’s Y in Denver Saturday morning. No matter, more than 25 brave souls took the plunge for Lincoln County Special Olympics. 

The top individual fundraiser as of Saturday was Lee Rice with $750. The top group as of Saturday was the Lincoln Charter Cross Country Team with $1,066 and Knights of Columbus gave $3,200.

“We met our goal but fell short from last year’s $11,000.00 total,” long-time Lincoln County Special Olympics organizer CeLeste “Lisa” Lowery Frazier said. “We can collect for another two months before it is closed. The fee to plunge went up to $50 so we didn't have as many plungers this year. I'm very appreciative for what we collected. We’re looking for more businesses to participate and organizations to form teams next year. Hopefully the school system will get more involved with their clubs.”

The annual Polar Plunge is one of the biggest fundraisers for Lincoln County Special Olympics and the program is expanding, Frazier said. New athletes are joining just about every day as their families move into the area. 

“You wouldn’t believe the impact of being involved in this program,” Frazier said. “A lot of our athletes have loving families but sometimes they need an ‘out.’ Not only do we do our sports, we try to get together with our athletes and do other things with them.”

While they may be disabled, Frazier said she wouldn’t want to have to compete against any of them in the sports that they take part in. They’re all serious about the sports they compete in.

Donations can still be made online at https://give.specialolympicsnc.com/campaign/2023-special-olympics-lincoln-county-polar-plunge/c438152. Frazer still has Special Olympics Polar Plunge T-shirts available for $20 which goes towards the total raised.

For more information on Lincoln County Special Olympics, call (704) 308-6398. 

This year’s Lincoln County Special Olympics games will be on April 28 and this year it’ll be held at East Lincoln High School beginning at 9:30 a.m.