ATHOL — In very early April, around the second week of self-quarantine, Michelle Haddock and her brother, Craig Johnson, residents of White Pond in South Athol, were bored and decided to take an early swim — a White Pond Polar Plunge.
They then challenged their neighbors, Chris and Liz Day and their daughter, Maggie, to take a swim.
On the White Pond Facebook page, they challenged Gary and Nailil Martinelli from across the pond. Gary challenged Mark White, whose wife, Cindy, is a nurse at Athol Hospital.
At that point, on April 7, Pond resident Barry Whitehouse stepped in, asking White Pond residents to turn the polar challenge into something meaningful to recognize Mark White’s wife, Cindy, and all the other local heroes working in the hospital, by pledging to donate $25 to Athol Hospital for each plunge, up to $200.
Barry suggested the pledged money be used by the hospital for personal protective equipment (PPE). His pledge was immediately matched by others, and more and more White Ponders took up the challenge to plunge and/or pledge.
Almost immediately, more than $2,000 in pledge money was sent to the Athol Hospital COVID-19 fund, in care of Heywood Hospital. When Whitehouse was challenged himself, he took the plunge, and then challenged Win Brown, president of Heywood, who accepted the challenge.
Friends and relatives of White Ponders from Florida to Maine have accepted the challenge. One White Pond resident, Bill Cantrell, was in Maine at the time, and took the plunge down a snowy slope because the ponds in Maine were still frozen. Several residents of nearby Packard Heights accepted the challenge and organized a group plunge there — keeping social distance, of course.
White Pond resident Jenny Roche has compiled a video of many of the plungers and posted it on the White Pond website. Many residents have also posted it on their own Facebook pages, and the video was sent to Heywood Hospital.
To add to the fund, checks can be made out to Athol Hospital, memo line COVID PPE/ In Honor of Cindy White and sent to Heywood Hospital Office of Philanthropy, 242 Green St., Gardner, MA 01441.