NAHANT — The Nahant community celebrated the annual Freezin’ for a Reason Polar Plunge on Jan. 1, with hundreds of people gathering on Short Beach at noon to plunge into cold waters for My Brother’s Table.
“As soon as you got in that water [and] you got out of the water and hit you, and it almost put a coat of ice on your body, but we had a great showing. We had a lot of great turnout of support financially, and just everybody being there and having fun as much as you could when it was that cold,” says co-founder George Sonia, who started Freezin’ for a Reason with his wife, Stephanie, alongside Mario and Patty Capano and their son, Nicholas.”
The event began at noon at Short Beach and then extended to Rolly’s Tavern, which graciously hosted food, drinks, and both the sports memorabilia auction and contributed to the raffles. The memorabilia was generously donated by Barry Calvani, owner of Cal’s News, who continues to support over the years.
The event raised $23,000 in proceeds to support My Brother’s Table in Lynn, the largest soup kitchen in the North Shore. Founded in 1982, they’ve served over 9 million free meals to families in need and continue to do so seven days a week. They also host a weekly free medical clinic.
“Every year we pick a good cause, but yeah, this year’s [cause] with the food insecurities, it was the right pick,” says Sonia. I’ve been involved in My Brother’s Table for over 30 years… I thought it was very worthy and I know how they spend the money — every cent of that money is going to be used for food and other services for the people. They do a fantastic job with all their money.”
Added Capano: “In this time of food instability, federal funding is up in the air for homeless people, for people that need food…We chose My Brother’s Table because it’s a local community organization that has always helped people that need help, and we’re always looking for the right cause. We always look for our local cause, and we couldn’t think of anything better than to help people feed themselves.”
It’s a special tradition for the community and one that everyone looks forward to every year.
“Everybody will start talking about it the next time you see them, but get ready for next year! It’s just, it’s a unique experience for everybody, and it’s something you can talk about the whole year round.”
