{"id":71963,"date":"2017-03-08T22:11:42","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T05:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-kiwanis-club-hosts-polar-plunge-fundraiser-on-saturday\/"},"modified":"2017-03-09T05:11:42","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T05:11:42","slug":"cortez-kiwanis-club-hosts-polar-plunge-fundraiser-on-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-kiwanis-club-hosts-polar-plunge-fundraiser-on-saturday\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez Kiwanis Club hosts polar plunge fundraiser on Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Shawn
Shawn Bittle models the outfit he plans to wear during the Polar Bear Plunge on Saturday. There will be a \u201ccraziest costume\u201d prize at the end.<\/span>Courtesy Photo\/Shawn Bittle<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As part of a push to increase its donations to local elementary schools, the Kiwanis Club of Mesa Verde is hosting a polar bear plunge fundraiser this Saturday.<\/p>\n

In the past, the club has donated about $500 every year to each elementary school in Montezuma and Dolores County. This year, Assistant Cortez Fire Chief Shawn Bittle, who is also a member of Kiwanis, wants to make that number bigger, so he decided to add a new event to the club\u2019s usual fundraising schedule. The plunge will be held at the Cortez Elks Lodge from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a $20 participation fee that includes lunch and a chance to win several door prizes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so blown away with what these teachers and principals were able to do with just a few hundred dollars,\u201d Bittle said. \u201cI was like, \u2018Next year, we really need to give them $1,000.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the entry fee, the Polar Bear Plunge will have several other opportunities to donate to Kiwanis. People will bid to sponsor each jumper during the event, and Bittle has set up a GoFundMe page so community members who don\u2019t attend can donate.<\/p>\n

Bittle said he has tried to include plenty of incentives for participants to help raise money. Individuals and teams who raise the most will get a chance to win prizes, including a portable hot tub and $500 in cash. Participants are encouraged to dress up, so there will also be a prize for \u201ccraziest costume,\u201d which Bittle said he plans to win with a St. Patrick\u2019s Day-themed outfit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kind of threw this together at the last minute, but we\u2019ve seen a lot of response already,\u201d club member Ken Brengle said.<\/p>\n

The Cortez Police Department and the Cortez Fire District have formed teams to participate in the plunge, but since there is no preregistration available, Bittle said it\u2019s hard to tell how many people will show up. He\u2019s hoping for a crowd, though, especially since the forecast is less polar than usual for this time of year.<\/p>\n

He said people who don\u2019t feel like getting soaked are welcome to come and show their support for the club. Those who don\u2019t do the plunge itself won\u2019t have to pay the participation fee, but they will need to pay if they stay for lunch. The minimum age to participate is 14 years old, and everyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.<\/p>\n

So far, the GoFundMe page has raised more than $1,300, and the club hopes to raise much more by the end of Saturday. Historically, most of the schools the club supports have used the money for their science, technology, engineering and math programs, although that\u2019s not a requirement.<\/p>\n

Bittle hopes to make the polar plunge an annual event from now on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019ll be so much fun,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n

If you go<\/h4>\n

What: Polar Bear Plunge
\n When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, March 11
\n Where: Cortez Elks Lodge, 2100 N. Dolores Road
\n Cost: $20 per jumper
\n More information: Contact Shawn Bittle at 314-704-7853 or sbittle@cortezfire.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Regional broadband plan released<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kiwanis Club hosts fundraiser event this Saturday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,4343,13,2746],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-71963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-elementary-schools","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-kiwanis"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71963"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=71963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}