Fundraising Participants Bracing for Frigid Ocean Plunge at Long Island Polar Dip on Saturday in Huntington

Freezin’ for a Reason event to help raise money to send more N.Y. families to Camp Sunshine, a one-of-a-kind retreat in Maine for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families

HUNTINGTON, N.Y. (February 25, 2013) – Participants in the Long Island Polar Dip on Saturday in Huntington will plunge into Long Island Sound to raise money to send more New York families to Camp Sunshine.

The March 2 fundraising event will test the mettle of participants who must dip into frigid ocean waters at Crab Meadow Beach, located at the end of Waterside Avenue in Huntington Township on Long Island’s North Shore. Registration will get underway at noon with the dip set for 2 p.m.

Camp Sunshine is a one-of-a-kind national retreat in Casco, Maine for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. The Long Island Polar Dip has partnered with CrowdRise, a popular online fundraising platform, to make it easy to participate. To start raising funds, form or join a team, and donate online, visit http://www.crowdrise.com/LongIslandPolarDip. For more information, call (207) 655-3800.

Organizers have set a goal to raise $20,000 – enough to send 10 New York families to Camp Sunshine (www.campsunshine.org). Each participant who raises at least $100 in pledges for Camp Sunshine will receive a coveted “I DID IT!” t-shirt.

The Long Island Polar Dip is re-locating to Huntington this year from Amityville due to damage from Superstorm Sandy. .

Nestled alongside the shores of beautiful Sebago Lake in Casco, Maine, Camp Sunshine (www.campsunshine.org) offers children with life-threatening illnesses and their families a place to relax together for a week and to take a break from the extraordinary demands placed on them on a daily basis.

The year-round program is free of charge and staffed almost entirely by volunteers.  It is the only program in the nation whose mission is to address the impact of a life-threatening illness on every member of the immediate family.

Since the opening of the Camp’s year-round campus in 2001, more ill children and their families have come from New York than any other state in the nation. In 2012, 152 families from New York, many from Long Island, attended the Camp.  Even with multiple sessions being added annually at Camp Sunshine, there are still many more children from New York being newly diagnosed each year, Smith said.

Camp Sunshine’s program continues to be recommended by the following New York treatment centers: Mount Sinai Medical Center, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, Schneider's Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York University Medical Center, Brooklyn Hospital Center, Westchester Medical Center,  Stony Brook Medical Center, and numerous others.

About Camp Sunshine

Camp Sunshine offers children with life-threatening illnesses and their families a place to relax together for a week, and to take a break from the extraordinary demands placed upon them on a daily basis. The year-round program is free of charge and staffed almost entirely by volunteers. It is the only program in the nation whose mission is to address the impact of a life-threatening illness on every member of the immediate family – the ill child, the parents and the siblings. Since its inception in 1984, Camp Sunshine has provided a haven for more than 32,000 individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. In addition to providing 24-hour on-site medical and psychosocial support, the camp offers a variety of daily activities, including swimming, boating, archery and soccer, and special events such as bonfires and cookouts; and also hosts fall and winter programs. To support Camp Sunshine, call (207) 655-3800 or visit www.campsunshine.org.

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Event listing

WHAT: Long Island Polar Dip to benefit Camp Sunshine

WHEN: Saturday, March 2, 2013 at 2 p.m. (registration begins at noon)

WHERE: Crab Meadow Beach, Waterside Ave., Huntington Township, Long Island, N.Y.  

WHO:   Event to raise money to send more New York families to Camp Sunshine (www.campsunshine.org), a one-of-a-kind national retreat in Maine for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families

MORE INFO: Participants are encouraged to raise a minimum of $100 in pledges and plunge into Long Island Sound to receive an official “I DID IT” long-sleeved t-shirt.  All proceeds will benefit Camp Sunshine. The goal is to raise $20,000.

WEBSITE: http://www.crowdrise.com/LongIslandPolarDip

CONTACT: Michael Smith, Camp Sunshine (207) 655-3800 msmith@campsunshine.org

Photos from past polar dips benefitting Camp Sunshine

Here is more news and information about Camp Sunshine