{"id":625666,"date":"2026-03-02T00:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T00:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/625666\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T00:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T00:09:13","slug":"2026-polar-plunge-chicago-thousands-brave-frigid-lake-michigan-raise-over-1-5m-for-special-olympics-illinois-charities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/625666\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Polar Plunge Chicago: Thousands brave frigid Lake Michigan, raise over $1.5M for Special Olympics Illinois, charities"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO (WLS) — Thousands plunged into a freezing lake Michigan for a good cause.<\/p>\n

They braved the cold water for this year’s Polar Plunge Chicago, raising more than $1.5 million for Special Olympics Illinois.<\/p>\n

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24\/7. Click here to watch<\/a><\/p>\n

Over 4,300 people plunged into the freezing Lake Michigan water at North Avenue Beach in Chicago, and they said it’s worth it as they’re changing the way people think about diversity.<\/p>\n

It’s called the polar plunge for a reason.<\/p>\n

“Just thinking about helping others out,” plunger Matt Buck said.<\/p>\n

For Buck, he knows first-hand that the cause is worth getting a bit wet for.<\/p>\n

“They’re always making sure that i have everything I need as well,” Buck said.<\/p>\n

Diagnosed with autism Buck found opportunity to compete in the Special Olympics through Special Children’s Charities, an organization raising millions for children to get a chance to live out their best lives.<\/p>\n

“We do Special Olympics competitions all across the city, and live enrichment, so we offer things such as online cooking courses,” Special Children’s Charities executive director Amy Taylor said. “We do special rec and then we also do another partnership with second city, and we offer camps throughout the summer as well.”<\/p>\n

Executive Director Amy Taylor and team captains Robert Tyszuk and PJ Nee joined ABC7 on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

“I never thought he’d get those kinds of opportunities,” Matt’s mother Kathleen Buck said. “We do Special Olympics competitions all across the city, and live enrichment, so we offer things such as online cooking courses. We do special rec and then we also do another partnership with second city, and we offer camps throughout the summer as well.”<\/p>\n

The Bucks make the day a family affair. Kathleen says seeing the support from the city and elected officials, including Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, is a reminder that everyone deserves to find where they belong.<\/p>\n

“They meet these guys and girls. They just have such a different take on life and finding their own, you know, what they’re able to do, watching these athletes do what they can do,” Kathleen said.<\/p>\n

For those who decided to stay on dry land Sunday, there are still ways to support the organization. Learn more about the organization here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO (WLS) — Thousands plunged into a freezing lake Michigan for a good cause. They braved the cold…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":625667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[267362,960,5386,1818,5405,267358,219423,267361,267360,267359,70672],"class_list":["post-625666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-267362","tag-chicago","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-lake-michigan","tag-north-avenue-beach","tag-polar-plunge","tag-polar-plunge-2025","tag-polar-plunge-chicago","tag-special-childrens-charities","tag-special-olympics"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116156679252697899","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}