Byrnes Mill Police Chief Frank T. Selvaggio and two other officers from the department took a “Polar Plunge” early this month, as part of a fundraiser for Special Olympics Missouri.
“The air temperature was like 20 something degrees, and the water temperature was around freezing because they broke the ice for us to be able to jump,” said Byrnes Mill Police Officer Cody Umfress, one of the officers who took the plunge at 11 a.m. Feb. 6 at Lake St. Louis.
“It was insanely cold,” Selvaggio said.
Umfress and fellow Byrnes Mill Police Officer Steve Schaffer went completely under the water, and Selvaggio went in to his shoulders.
Selvaggio said the Byrnes Mill Police Department raised $3,523 for the Special Olympics, which ranked second in fundraising for the Lake St. Louis Plunge.
He said the Wentzville Police Department raised the most.
Selvaggio also said the Byrnes Mill Police Department has just 11 officers while other St. Louis-area departments that took part in the event have 60 to 80 officers, so he was proud of what his department was able to raise for the cause.
Several Polar Plunges were scheduled to be held at locations around the state, starting in late January and ending in March.
Selvaggio said the Byrnes Mill Police team members raised most of the money for the Lake St. Louis Plunge through their personal Facebook accounts.
Umfress said while the competition was fun, winning was not the goal.
“We’re all working towards a great cause,” Umfress said.
Byrnes Mill Police Officer Aimee Stockard also attended the plunge and took photos of the plungers. She said the plunge had a Jurassic theme, so she dressed up in an inflatable dinosaur costume.
Selvaggio said the team was made up of about 12 people, including two Special Olympic athletes, Derek Baker and Jonathan Richardson. Baker has more than 2 million followers on TikTok, a social media platform for short videos.
Umfress said Baker is a basketball and swimming athlete, and Richardson is a track and field and bowling athlete.
He said it was special to have both of them cheering on the Byrnes Mill Police team during the event.