Icy leaps aid Special Olympics

• By BOB ANDERSON
• Advocate Florida parishes bureau
• Published: Nov 10, 2009 - Page: 1B

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DENHAM SPRINGS — Six people made chilly plunges into a lake adjacent to Interstate 12 on Monday morning to benefit Special Olympics.

“Oh, my God!” said Special Olympic athlete Lydia Roberts when asked if the water was cold when she dove off the side of a pontoon boat.

Donnie Guillory, a Baton Rouge athlete who has competed three times at the International Special Olympics, agreed that it was cold, but said he plans to make the plunge again in January to help raise money for the organization.

To make that “polar plunge” participants will have to come up with $100 in donations, said Pat Carpenter-Bourgeois, president of Special Olympics Louisiana.

She hopes to have 1,000 people jump into the lake on Jan. 30.

Those who want to can do it in costume, she said.

Monday’s event was to call attention to that benefit so families can start challenging each other, students can challenge educators and other groups can challenge someone to take a frosty dip, she said.

The $100 is cheap compared to the $1,000 people will have to pay for the Nov. 21 chance to rappel from Tiger Stadium.

The money from those events will go to benefit the more than 12,000 athletes involved in Special Olympics Louisiana, which holds more than 100 competitive events a year, Carpenter-Bourgeois said.

The organization also sends athletes to national and international events, she said.

Guillory, 31, said he has already signed up for the Over the Edge event, and the idea of rappelling from Tiger Stadium doesn’t scare him.

Special Olympics events in which he has participated include tennis, bowling, bocce and snow skiing.

He said he has been competing in Special Olympics since he was 8 years old and has won numerous medals.