{"id":28493,"date":"2026-03-09T19:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/28493\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T19:30:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:30:15","slug":"lake-zurichs-13th-annual-purple-plunge-saw-over-500-plungers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/28493\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake Zurich’s 13th annual Purple Plunge saw over 500 plungers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 13th annual Purple Plunge in Lake Zurich saw lake water temperature of 57 degrees with misty overcast weather at 63 degrees at 11 a.m. along Breezewald Beach on March 7.<\/p>\n

The Saturday fundraiser with a tent party and raffle drew over 500 participants, called plungers who entered the lake water in Lake Zurich.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe 13th annual Purple Plunge at Breezewald Park in Lake Zurich on March 7, 2026. (Karie Angell Luc\/Pioneer Press)<\/p>\n

Since 2013, the Purple Plunge has helped cancer-impacted Lake County families facing unexpected expenses, including income loss and medical bills. Clinical visits, gasoline, transportation, and food, some as costly takeout meals purchased outside of regular grocery budgets, can adversely impact family finances.<\/p>\n

Paul Hunt of Lake Zurich, president of the Purple Plunge, a 501c3 charity based in Lake Zurich, said the fundraiser\u2019s goal was $250,000. As of Sunday, March 8, more than $300,000 was raised. See https:\/\/secure.qgiv.com\/event\/purpleplunge202<\/a>6.<\/p>\n

Hunt indicated about the generosity, \u201cIt just says that year after year, more and more people learn about us through word of mouth and they want to come and support us.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s also so amazing is that the people we\u2019ve helped\u2026every year, some of them bring back (plunging) teams and they do fundraising themselves to help other families,\u201d Hunt said.<\/p>\n

When a person receives a cancer diagnosis, they are eligible to apply for funding from the Purple Plunge. The diagnosis is verified with the healthcare provider, and the charity votes as a board to approve funding.<\/p>\n

The Purple Plunge began in memory of Buffalo Grove resident Mary Jo Bordenave, who died on Feb. 25, 2013, from lung cancer.<\/p>\n

Barry Bordenave of Buffalo Grove, Mary Jo\u2019s spouse and Purple Plunge vice-president, said on Saturday morning before the plunge, \u201cAll that I can say is that she\u2019s (Mary Jo) looking down on all of us and grateful that we\u2019ve helped 585 families so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ConorConor Clancy of Lake Zurich plunges at the 13th annual Purple Plunge at Breezewald Park in Lake Zurich on March 7, 2026. (Karie Angell Luc\/Pioneer Press)<\/p>\n

Barry Bordenave is \u201cvery proud of everybody associated with the Purple Plunge, it\u2019s a group of us that do it as volunteers, everybody just does it because they want to help people.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe enjoy just helping the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew Epstein of Lake Zurich, the Purple Plunge\u2019s director of communications, plunged with a group donning yellow \u201cHulkamania\u201d costumes. Sons Michael, 5, a preschooler, and Jonathan, 8, a second-grader, were plungers. The team had just won the grand champion trophy for best group costume.<\/p>\n

\"AndrewAndrew Epstein of Lake Zurich, the Purple Plunge\u2019s director of communications, is triumphant with the team\u2019s grand champion costume contest trophy at the 13th annual Purple Plunge at Breezewald Park in Lake Zurich on March 7, 2026. (Karie Angell Luc\/Pioneer Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope we raise a ton of money for people in the town with cancer,\u201d Andrew Epstein said.<\/p>\n

New this year was bagpiper music courtesy of J. Kevin Chapman of Mount Prospect, who performed in traditional kilts despite windy, misty weather conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHang in there,\u201d Chapman said to all facing the impact of cancer.<\/p>\n

\"BagpiperBagpiper J. Kevin Chapman of Mount Prospect at the 13th annual Purple Plunge at Breezewald Park in Lake Zurich on March 7, 2026. (Karie Angell Luc\/Pioneer Press)<\/p>\n

Lake Zurich Mayor Tom Poynton was part of the annual purple ribbon cutting on the beach before plunging commenced.<\/p>\n

The Purple Plunge is \u201cjust another great community event for a phenomenal cause, great crowd, another great event for Lake Zurich,\u201d Poynton said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt says an awful lot about the people in Lake Zurich,\u201d Poynton also said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we live here, it\u2019s a great group of people, great residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a homegrown money-raising group for a good cause,\u201d Poynton added. \u201cHow do you beat that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Plunging groups entered the lake water after Barry Bordenave, in his signature purple derby hat (which blew off in the wind more than once), gave them the cue. Lake County groups represented locales such as Mundelein, North Barrington, Libertyville, and Deer Park as examples.<\/p>\n

In a green knit hat and wearing a yellow SpongeBob SquarePants team costume with a \u201cBikini Bottom Plungers\u201d theme was Yvette Bujak of Lake Bluff who raised an arm and said how stoked she was to plunge, \u201cWhoo!!! I\u2019m really excited!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OnOn left, taking a dive upon entering the water is plunger Will Soldano of Lake Zurich at the 13th annual Purple Plunge at Breezewald Park in Lake Zurich on March 7, 2026. (Karie Angell Luc\/Pioneer Press<\/p>\n

Will Soldano of Lake Zurich dove into the water upon entry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was cold,\u201d Soldano said shortly after returning to the beach to grab a towel.<\/p>\n

Conor Clancy of Lake Zurich took the plunge and said about the cold water experience, \u201cgood, exhilarating, just go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about the Purple Plunge, visit https:\/\/www.purpleplunge.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 13th annual Purple Plunge in Lake Zurich saw lake water temperature of 57 degrees with misty overcast…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[17247,8505,4573,17246,51],"class_list":{"0":"post-28493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-zurich","8":"tag-breezewald-beach","9":"tag-lake-county","10":"tag-lake-zurich","11":"tag-purple-plunge","12":"tag-zurich"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116200880427653024","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}