Feature Stories
Br-r-r-ring on 2014!
Federation of Nurses/UFT members take frigid ocean plunge for kids
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Bruce Cotler
Adventurous New Yorkers frolic in the ocean off Coney Island.
It was a teeth-chattering, bone-chilling day at the beach for the Federation of Nurses/UFT members who participated in the Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge on New Year’s Day, an annual tradition that dates back to 1903.
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Bruce Cotler
Federation of Nurses/UFT member Lila Shams is dressed to take a dip.
With air temperatures plummeting below freezing and the water temperature a frigid 41 degrees, almost a dozen brave Federation of Nurses/UFT members joined a record crowd at Coney Island in stripping down to their skivvies and splashing in the New Year.
Lila Shams, a nurse at Lutheran Medical Center, spontaneously recruited fellow Lutheran nurses to participate in the plunge on New Year’s Day as part of a team they named the LMC Divers. But then they learned that the joyous event had a serious mission: to raise money to send critically ill children to Camp Sunshine, a summer program for children with life-threatening illnesses.
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Bruce Cotler
RN Donna Coffey turned out for the fun.
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Bruce Cotler
RN Howard Sandau meets up with Catwoman.
“It’s an amazing cause, and I wanted to be a part of it,” said Howard Sandau, a nurse at Lutheran Medical Center and a vice chair of the Federation of Nurses/UFT.
The team quickly mobilized their fundraising forces and, in just 48 hours, raised more than $600 for Camp Sunshine. In total, plungers at the event raised $77,000, enough to send 36 families to the camp.
Judging from their outfits — Shams dressed in costume as a mermaid; Sandau entered the water in a Speedo — the warm feeling of their fundraising achievement was the only protection they needed against the cold.
“It’s so exhilarating you don’t realize you’re freezing,” said Sandau, who found himself buoyed into the water by hundreds of other eager divers storming down the beach. “It was the most amazing experience — the joy and camaraderie and accomplishment.”
Once they regained feeling in their extremities — “I was so delirious from the cold I couldn’t find my towel!” said Sandau — they immediately set their sights on New Year’s Day 2015.
“We’re already recruiting,” said Sandau, who is eyeing a substantially larger fundraising goal of $10,000. “We’re looking forward to next year.”
It’s sure to be another plunge to remember.