Hundreds come out for annual plunge

By: Antho­ny Zepperi
Feb­ru­ary 3, 2020
Willi­man­tic Chronicle

WILLIMANTIC — One per­son jump­ing into the icy waters of the Natchaug Riv­er on the first day of Feb­ru­ary is a head-scratcher.

But when hun­dreds do so, it must mean it’s time for the annu­al Plunge for Hunger fundrais­er at Lauter Park in Willi­man­tic, an annu­al — if not quirky — tra­di­tion to help the local Covenant Soup Kitchen.

The annu­al plunge Sat­ur­day saw peo­ple dress in out­landish clothes and dive into a cold riv­er to help with feed­ing needy folks and families.

The event is spon­sored by the East­ern Con­necti­cut State Uni­ver­si­ty rug­by team.

Ray Arami­ni, the rug­by coach and long­time soup kitchen vol­un­teer, helped cre­ate this fundraiser.

He said events like this are unique to the community.

Plus, he said, the plunge offers an easy out­let for peo­ple to help — albeit if it requires a quick, cold dip in the river.

“Every­one can do this,” Arami­ni said. “It is not a hunger marathon or any­thing like that, but it’s some­thing any­one can do.”

Arami­ni said events like these help to cre­ate change and make good com­mu­ni­ties stronger.

“This pro­gram was cre­at­ed to help raise mon­ey,” Arami­ni. “It helps to bring aware­ness to neigh­bors that are hun­gry and it is impor­tant to help alle­vi­ate hunger in the community.”

Andrew Vot­ta, who par­tic­i­pat­ed in the plunge, said events like this make the com­mu­ni­ty whole.

“It brings dif­fer­ent groups of peo­ple togeth­er,” Vot­ta said. “Events like these are very impor­tant since some peo­ple aren’t as for­tu­nate to succeed.”

Eileen Ossen, who is affil­i­at­ed with the fundrais­er, said this plunge is always fun to be a part of.

“It’s excep­tion­al,” Ossen said. “The plunge gets hun­dreds com­ing out in this frigid winter.”

Ossen, who helps over­see the Jef­frey P. Ossen Fam­i­ly Foun­da­tion, said the foun­da­tion sup­ports this cause and has offered lots of help for the Town of Windham.

“My foun­da­tion has offered a match­ing grant to help out the com­mu­ni­ty,” Ossen said.

She said last year’s plunge helped raise $140,000 with the foun­da­tion match and it was a success.

The foun­da­tion match, accord­ing to Arami­ni, is key to the event.

He said Ossen want­ed to help raise more mon­ey with the help from her foundation.

“Eileen saw how good this event was and want­ed to con­tribute,” Arami­ni said. “She cre­at­ed a match fund for every dol­lar raised at the kitchen.”

Ossen said fundrais­ers like these are impor­tant for the community.

“Events like this one are essen­tial for com­mu­ni­ties to thrive,” Ossen said. “Every com­mu­ni­ty has some strug­gling efforts serv­ing those in need and Wind­ham is com­mit­ted to help­ing people.”

Ossen said her foundation’s pur­pose is to cre­ate change in Windham.

“The pur­pose of the foun­da­tion is to influ­ence and change the econ­o­my here in town,” Ossen said. “We hope to improve edu­ca­tion as well as improve health care needs.”

She said the soup kitchen is always try­ing to help with the com­mu­ni­ty any way it sees fit.

“The kitchen is ded­i­cat­ed to those in need,” Ossen said. “Help­ing com­mu­ni­ties like Wind­ham can attract peo­ple to this very impor­tant cause.”

For more infor­ma­tion on the Covenant Soup Kitchen, includ­ing how to donate, vis­it www.covenantsoupkitchen.org.