January 2006

The Shrinkage Continues

The 2006 Lakeview Polar Bear Club's 5th Annual: Celebration of Shrinkage was a complete success. Mother Nature was good to us this year and we had wonderful weather for a swim.  While most Chicagoans thought that we had a calm day for the event, those of us down at the beach saw something completely different.  For the first time in my five years in Chicago, I saw surf-able waves in Lake Michigan. For the record, the temperature was a chilly 27 degrees Fahrenheit at the time of the swim and roughly 12 degrees if you count the wind-chill - either way, it was painfully cold.
Despite the extreme conditions, we had 26 crazy individuals get in the water. As has become tradition, we had a contest to see who could stay in the longest.  I would like to say it was an intense battle, but it wasn't even close. I would like to congratulate the 2006 LPBC Champion, Brian Endres, who stayed in the water for 2 minutes and 41 seconds.  While the rest of us were shivering and jumping around, he was calm and collected and had his game-face on.  As the picture to the left accurately shows, Brian stood defiantly as all others quickly ran back to their waiting, warm blankets. 

Fundraising:
The total donations for the 2006 event was $5,600.  As I have previously stated, 100% of all donations will go directly to the Hinders family.  I am so proud of everyone who donated, swam, or just joined in the fun with us this year.  I appreciate everyone's help and I know the Hinders family does too.

Just for everyone's perspective: in the four years that we have been doing this event, we have now raised almost $24,000 to help out families in need.  I am proud and thankful for every single person who has been involved with the event

Thank You:
I want to thank everyone who was involved with this year's event and I want to thank everyone for your kindness and considerations.  I would like to thank all of the companies who helped out with donations, specifically:  The Epstein Foundation, Flora Chicago, Production Support, and DBA Horstman Trucking.  I want to give special thanks to Rose Marchal for all of the cooking - the vegetable soup was hearty and the sloppy joe's was extra sloppy.  I would also like to thank everyone who has helped out in past years, without your help, we wouldn't be where we are today.

I hope everyone has as much fun with this as I do and I can't wait until next year's event.

Thank you.