INTO THE TURN: Vicki Taft waves to the crowd as she navigates the turn at the Tiftarea YMCA pool slide. Taft raised funds for Hospice of Tift Area.

TIFTON — The Tiftarea YMCA rang in 2024 with a banner year for the annual Polar Bear Plunge. Before nine individuals made the charity slide Jan. 1, Tiftarea YMCA CEO Jason Bishoff announced they had raised a record $15,530 for local causes.

Brother Charlie’s, represented on the slide by Sam Wright, was the big organizational winner, with $8,750. As the top organization, Brother Charlie’s will get 100% of its money raised. Every other group splits 50/50 with the Tiftarea YMCA.

The overall number is nearly $1,000 above the record — $14,543 — set in 2020. The total is also $3,000 more than the sum raised a year ago. This overall total was not the only new record; Wright’s $8,750 for Brother Charlie’s smashed the previous mark for a group, also set in 2020, when Dr. Bret Wagenhorst earned $5,480 for Meals on Wheels.

For Bishoff, the event has grown every year. He’s impressed with not only the money raised, but that such a variety of organizations are represented.

“You have everything from saving animals to being involved with youth in the community, to being involved with senior adults,” Bishoff said.

Brother Charlie’s is one of Tifton’s oldest and best known charitable organizations, operating both its Rescue Center, as well as a thrift store. “1979 is when it started,” Bishoff said. He has taken the plunge for Brother Charlie’s in the past and both he and Wright feel strongly about its causes.

Wright came down the chute in a hot dog costume, one of two people to dress up this year, the other being a pickle outfit worn by David Pollock to support his cause of pickleball scholarships for the Tiftarea YMCA.

Though he was getting updates throughout from Bishoff, Wright said he was not sure until the deadline Dec. 28 that he was the winner this year. “[Bishoff] always said it was going to be close,” he said.

The hot dog costume is something Wright said he already owned because of his association with the Checkers fast food restaurant. He wanted to add some personality to his slide.

Everyone making the slide on New Year’s Day and the groups they represented were Mike Beeman (ABAC Foundation), Russ Flowers (Tift County Foundation for Educational Excellence), Nick McClellan (Families for Christ), Pollock (YMCA pickleball scholarships), Kim Royal (Dream Center), Dr. Mac Sims (Steadfast Animal Rescue), Vicki Taft (Hospice of Tift Area, Inc.), Wagenhorst (Meals on Wheels) and Wright (Brother Charlie’s).

Sims finished second with $2,300 for Steadfast Animal Rescue, with Wagenhorst third for Meals on Wheels at $2,000. Taft was fourth with $1,005 for Hospice of Tift Area.

One record was not set in 2024, and that was the water temperate. Bishoff announced it as 54.5 degrees at the start of the Plunge. Twice the water has been below 50, with the lowest being a crisp 46 degrees in 2018. Nevertheless, no one used the Y’s warming pool after, though no one slid twice and there was no audience participation after from the big crowd gathered.