Polar plungers react as they exit the Atlantic Ocean by Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. The annual OBX Polar Plunge raises funds for Special Olympics athletes. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)
By Corinne Saunders
NAGS HEAD — Cheers from the beach blended with screams of both exhilaration and trepidation. Hundreds of people braved the cold Atlantic Ocean on Saturday by Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head to benefit local Special Olympics athletes.
Over 600 people registered and around 600 took the plunge around 11:30 a.m., making Saturday’s event the “biggest polar plunge so far,” Danielle Weisman of Special Olympics North Carolina said.
“If you are a person with intellectual disabilities, you encounter adversities daily,” the OBX Polar Plunge event website said. “Our athletes bravely face challenges on the field, in the pool and on the court. They are the inspiration for this event.”
Sandy Pace, local co-coordinator of the event, said the annual plunge began around 2018 and is the main fundraiser for Special Olympics training.
It takes about $55,000-$65,000 annually to operate the program, and athletes aren’t charged for anything, she noted.
The event has grown each year.
“I think there were like 12 people at the first year,” Pace said. “It went to maybe 20-25 the next. We had more spectators than we had people. And then it just blew up. And so now, last year was over 300, and this year was even more.”
Participants pay $50 each to plunge and often raise money on top of that.
Saturday’s plunge raised about $55,000, according to Weisman. That figure doesn’t include any merchandise sold at the event or donations made afterward.
A man who said he was from Virginia Beach, Virginia, approached Weisman after the plunge during her brief interview with Outer Banks Insider, complimenting the event and asking how to donate.
Participants run toward the Atlantic Ocean to participate in the annual OBX Polar Plunge to benefit Special Olympics athletes. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)
Last year’s event netted just over $55,000, and Pace said she thinks this year’s fundraising will top $60,000. The county also provides funding for the program.
Dare County Special Olympics involves 130 athletes who compete in nine different sports: Basketball, bowling, track and field, swimming, bocci, cheerleading, equestrian, tennis and soccer, Pace said.
“We serve Currituck, Pasquotank, Camden and Tyrrell counties; their athletes come and participate with us,” she added.
A local event coordinator who volunteered prior to Pace remains involved.
“Most of the people who are in it, they stay,” Pace observed. “They say, ‘These are the best people in the world to hang out with. If you’re having a bad day, you come hang out with us, and if you’re still having a bad day, there's just something wrong with you.’”
A way to help year-round
Amy Crawford, administrative technician at the Virginia S. Tillett Community Center, holds up a bag of athletic shoes that will be sent off to raise money for Dare County Special Olympics cheerleaders. More bags of donated shoes are behind her. Anyone can contribute old athletic shoes to the ongoing campaign. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)
Area residents can support Special Olympics cheerleaders year-round by donating old athletic shoes at the Virginia S. Tillett Community Center, located at 950 Marshall C. Collins Drive in Manteo.
The center bags up the shoes and sends them to GotSneakers? in Miami, Florida, for monetary reimbursement whenever 10 bags are collected, according to Amy Crawford, administrative technician at the community center.
“All the money that we get goes to Dare County Special Olympics cheerleading teams’ cheerleaders,” Crawford said.
The shoe-collecting program began around 2019 and is ongoing, she said.
GotSneakers? either recirculates the athletic shoes or repurposes them into surfaces such as playgrounds and tracks, according to the February 2025 Virginia S. Tillett Community Center newsletter.
“The sneaker fundraiser keeps sneakers out of landfills and reduces toxic chemicals from being released into our air and soil,” the newsletter said. “So go ahead and make some room in that closet for something new and help out the best cheerleaders in North Carolina! (We may be a little biased!)”
For more information about the program, call the Virginia S. Tillett Community Center at 252-475-9270.
For more information about Dare County Special Olympics, visit its dedicated page on the county’s website.
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