My name is George Hebel of Ottawa. I am a Special Olympics athlete, Global Messenger and member of the Special Olympics Illinois Board of Directors. I competed at the 2006 Special Olympics USA National Games in Ames, Iowa, and received 3 Gold Medals in swimming.

Since I like to swim, I have agreed to jump into Lake Michigan once an hour every hour for 24 hours on February 23-24, 2007, at Northwestern University’s North Beach in Evanston. This is like no other swimming event!

You might remember I participated in the SUPER Plunge in February 2006. However, because it was the coldest day in Chicago in 3 years, we were forced to stop when wind-chill temperatures reached 20 below zero (it later reached an air temperature of 4 below zero with a 35-below zero wind-chill). We only were able to make 14 plunges into Lake Michigan before the event was cancelled.

As a SUPER Plunger, I’m collecting pledges from my family, friends, co-workers and anyone else who wants to support Special Olympics Illinois athletes like me. Fundraisers like this help provide the money needed to make sure my fellow athletes and I can continue to compete. As a Special Olympics athlete, I train and compete in 9 sports free of charge, so your donations are very important. Your donation will help provide me and the other 20,000 Special Olympics athletes with intellectual disabilities in Illinois the chance to participate in sports training and competition.

If your business donates $100 or more to my efforts, I will wear an article of clothing bearing your company name or logo during one of my 24 plunges.
Thanks for your support!

George Hebel