What would it take for you to plunge into the cold water of the Long Island sound in January? Would you do it for a good cause? Most people if asked would say something like, “are you crazy?” But most people are not like Peter Porcaro, organizer of L.I. Polar Plunge.
Porcaro, a Smithtown resident, completed his 12th polar plunge event on Wednesday, January 1, 2014. Porcaro, an air traffic controller, started the polar plunge event with a group of friends twelve years ago on a lark. He has watched the event grow from a small group of people to over sixty people of different backgrounds and ages. What unites them? In addition to doing something “exhilarating”, an important part of the event is raising money and awareness for some very important organizations.
Over the years the polar plunge has raised funds for the American Cancer Society as well as the Leukemia Society. In 2013 and again in 2014 the polar plunge benefited the Kerry Rose Foundation.
Kerry Rose Fitzsimons, a Commack High School graduate, was a senior at Marist College, Poughkeepsie in 2012. She was killed in January 2012 along with two other people when a fire spread inside their off-campus home which did not have a fire sprinkler system. The Kerry Rose Foundation is a nonprofit 501.c3 ( all contributions are tax deductible) was created to advocate for fire-safety for college housing both on and off-campus.
July 2013 the Kerry Rose Fire Sprinkler Notification Act became law when Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation requiring public and private colleges in New York State to provide written information on fire safety and sprinkler systems to students residing in college-owned or operated housing. According to Mr. Porcara, Congressman Steve Israel is working on federal legislation similar to New York State’s Kerry Rose Fire Sprinkler Notification Act.
For Mr. Porcaro and many of the “plungers” it was personal. Mr. Porcaro’s daughter knew Kerry Rose. Kerry’s sister Carly Fitzsimons, wearing a Viking hat, cold and wet from the plunge was pleased with the turnout. “It is good to have everyone’s support, we feel a lot of love.” Friends Deanna Honett and Brandon Marundos both said the plunge was exhilarating and that they were happy to be a part of the event, and to have the opportunity to support the Fitzsimons family and the Kerry Rose Foundation. Would they do it again? In a heart beat they said, with Deanna clarifying the statement by saying, “when I can feel my feet again.”
Next year’s polar plunge will go to help suicide prevention.
(photos by Katheryn Navas)