January 2005

The 2005 Lakeview Polar Bear Club's 4th Annual: Celebration of Shrinkage went off without a hitch.  It was an absolutely great day, relatively speaking.  It was one of the coldest days of the winter with a high temperature of 15 degrees Fahrenheit.  The official temperature at the time of the swim was 9 degrees, and the water temperature was 32.2 degrees.  These are both new LPBC records for the coldest water and air temperatures.  

Luckily, we did not have to break the ice to get in, but we were swimming with a few ice chunks.  Despite the unbearably cold conditions, we had 26 crazy individuals get in to the water.  Again we had a bit of a contest to see who could stay in the longest.  I would like to congratulate our dual champions, Marc Monnin(my cousin) and Mark Laubie, who set a new LPBC record by staying in the
water for 6 minutes and 31 seconds.  They were the only two people in the water for almost 3 minutes.

So far, we have raised over $5,500 for the Tate family, and donations are still coming in.  I recently spoke with Gloria Tate, and she told me how grateful the family is for everyone's donations.  She told me that they have paid off all of their bills for 2004 and now have a chance to actually get ahead in 2005.  She wanted me to thank all of you for keeping her family in your prayers and for all the donations.

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 want to give special thanks to Jen Cheung and Rose Marchal for all of the cooking they did, the chili was  outstanding, and the sloppy joes were extra sloppy.  I also want to thank Rose for all of her extra help, you always do so much and get such little credit.  I would also like to thank everyone who has helped out in past years(you know who I'm talking about), without your help, we wouldn't be where we are today.  

Thank you.