Three years ago in March of 2011, on a whim, I jumped into a hole in a frozen lake into ice-cold water wearing pajamas and boxer shorts. I was a one-man team, a shriveled army of one. I had a blast, and made a short little video to show just how much fun I had. I also learned that a LOT of people do this every year, raising a lot of money for the Special Olympics of Minnesota in the process.

The following year, I decided to try to form a team. I needed a team name. In a cheap attempt to recruit members of the SQL community to join me, I named the team “SQL Plunge” (follow #SQLPlunge on Twitter). Almost immediately, Jason Strate (b | t) signed up to jump with me, followed soon by Andy Lohn (b | t) and his coworker Afroza Ahmed. Here’s me, Jason, and a slightly soggy Andy exiting the water, refreshed and invigorated.

More of the same in 2013 – Jason and I again signed up as team SQL Plunge. For some reason, Andy and Afroza weren’t returning our calls, but some new folks joined us – Jeff Smith (t), his wife Jenny, and Charles Foster. That’s five people!

Which brings us to 2014, and once again, team SQL Plunge is poised to jump. In addition to Jason and myself, Charles is returning to jump again, but Jeff and Jenny came up with some lame excuse – mowing the yard or some nonsense. However, taking their place and continuing the growth trend are FIVE new jumpers – Sarah Strate (b | t), Jennifer Timmerman (t), Jennifer McConnell (t), Mark Classen (t), and Josh Raymond, a friend of my son’s. In addition to new jumpers, we also have a team of eight people doing the Plunge 5K prior to the swim – myself, Jason, Sarah, Mark, both Jennifers, Josh, and my wife Melissa. That’s EIGHT PEOPLE plunging, and eight people running or walking. Not bad for something that started with just little ol’ me doing something crazy.

Want to join us? It’s not too late, click the link below and sign up. If you’re not up for a swim, how about a donation? Five dollars, ten dollars, any amount helps. Plus, as an incentive, Mike Donnelly (b | t) has promised to jump with us IF we can reach our team goal of $5000. We REALLY want Mike to join us, so contribute something to our cause. The team thanks you in advance!

http://www.plungemn.org/team/sqlplunge

To make a donation, go to the team page by clicking on that URL. Once there, choose a team member (obviously you’re going to choose me) – click that person’s name. That will take you to his or her pledge page, where you’ll see “Make a pledge” links scattered throughout the page.