The fourth annual Morden Polar Plunge for Special Olympics Manitoba (SOM) took place Saturday afternoon alongside the community's annual Multicultural Winterfest.

This year saw nearly $20,000 raised by the 38 participants. Some of the teams were from the Morden, Winkler and Altona Police Services, and the Miami, Pembina-Manitou and Morden Fire Departments, as well as several individuals from across the region. The money raised will support athletes with intellectual disabilities throughout the Central Region including Clubs in Winkler, Morden, Altona and Portage.

One of the organizers, Constable Scott Edwards of Morden Police Service says, "We feel blessed. The community came out again and supported our event. We had new participants, our numbers were up a bit for the actual plungers which is awesome."

He says the weather couldn't have been better, and they were pleased to see local law enforcement play such a huge part in the event. The Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) organizes the Polar Plunge fundraisers which support Special Olympics Manitoba. This year a total of four are taking place, with Portage la Prairie hosting an event earlier this month, and both Dauphin and Winnipeg having events scheduled for March. The LETR is made up of various law enforcement agencies from across the province including local police services, Corrections Manitoba officers, Manitoba First Nations Police Service among others.

Dr. Ben Lulashnyk works at Boundary Trails Health Centre and C. W. Wiebe Medical Clinic in Winkler, and Saturday was his first Polar Plunge experience. He also ended up being the top individual fundraiser with over $2,000. The top fundraising team was the Dumpster Diving Divas who brought in over $3,000.

"It's more cold than you think, definitely the body takes a little bit of a shock there to get going to the other side . . . You hit the water, and you're kind of getting your bearings so you're not registering, but then all of the sudden you have to start to move and get to the other side. All of a sudden the body is starting to really register things, and things aren't really working as they should," he says.

Lulashnyk says the cold water was worth the cause, and hopes to get more people from the health care system involved next year.

"Being able to reach out to the community,  and help different people with all walks of life and challenges that they have to participate in, seeing this is a good cause and encouraging that in the community. I mean, it's just good to have everyone participate in positive things in our community," he says.

Edwards adds, they will keep working to get more people involved, and would love to see 50 plungers next year like they saw in the first event in 2016.

"We had some athletes there again this year cheering us on, and we'll do our part and help cheer them on next week at the Manitoba Games," says Edwards. The Special Olympics Manitoba Winter Games is happening February 22nd through 24th at various venues throughout Winnipeg.