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Jumping into the New Year: Nonprofit event raises money for local children
Frisco residents take part in the fourth annual Polar Bear Plunge, an event that helps raise money for the Scott Sullivan Scholarship Fund, which helps local youth athletics. Photo courtesy of Don Sparks Photography.
By Anthony Tosie, atosie@starlocalnews.com
Braving the cold weather, more than 100 individuals took part in the fourth annual Polar Bear Plunge, hosted by the nonprofit Scott Sullivan Scholarship Fund, in Frisco on New Year's Day.
The event, which was hosted at the Meadow Hills Estates pool, is the nonprofit's annual fundraiser. Its primary goal is to raise money for area children who take part in athletic programs, something the nonprofit's namesake was deeply involved in.
"Scott managed a number of sports teams, and basically he would cover costs when kids couldn't afford to cover their dues, uniforms, registration fees -- that kind of thing," said Mike Schwietz, a board member of the Scott Sullivan Scholarship Fund. "He had kids from all over the Dallas area who didn't always have the funds, and he would quietly cover the costs."
Schwietz said that the overwhelming majority of participants and attendees -- about 200 people attended the event but didn't take the plunge -- also donated money to the nonprofit despite the event being free to participate in.
To date, the Scott Sullivan Scholarship Fund has raised more than $30,000 for youth athletics, primarily through the Polar Bear Plunge.
"The Polar Bear Plunge is the one fundraiser we do each year; the rest of the year we have the opportunity to give away money to kids who participate in sports across North Texas, specifically the Collin County area," Schwietz said. "We support a number of organizations as well as athletes and teams."
Some of those organizations include Frisco Miracle League, Frisco Family Services and the Special Olympics.
Though organizations receive the bulk of the nonprofit's funds, it also helps support individual athletes who need financial support.
"We bought uniforms for a team we played against one time who had T-shirts with numbers written on in Sharpie," Schwietz said. "We also sponsored an athlete in the AAU national swim meet who couldn't afford to go."
Additionally, some of the fund's money goes to recently founded scholarships the nonprofit is providing in conjunction with the Frisco Education Foundation. Two scholarships -- for graduating male and female student-athletes -- are currently offered to graduating Wakeland High School seniors, although Schwietz said the nonprofit plans to expand.
"We started with Wakeland because that's our general community, but we'll probably expand this year," he said. "One of our long-term goals is to become large enough that we can offer two scholarships to each Frisco ISD high school."
For more information about the Scott Sullivan Scholarship Fund or the Polar Bear Plunge, click here.
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