'Cold Water Challenge' Catches Fire in Ocean City

dbergen

Ron Gifford takes the Cold Water Challenge. Perhaps you haven't heard the shrieks and hyperventilating. But in a massive charitable Ponzi scheme, half the known world (or at least a lot of folks with ties to Ocean City) has plunged into the cold ocean or bay over the past few days. Videos of the chilling feats have been circulating over Facebook in viral fashion. It started simply enough — with Ocean City Realtor Ron Gifford accepting and issuing a challenge: "Jason James, I accept your cold water challenge and will donate $100 to your foundation, Jaxon's Joyful Journey. I challenge Frank Donato III, Anthony Wilson, Michael Allegretto, Keith Hartzell, and Pete Madden to complete the challenge and donate $20 to StandUp4Seals. If you do not complete this challenge, you must donate $100 to Stand Up 4 SEALs. You have 24 hours. ... GOOD LUCK! #SEALSColdWaterChallenge — in Ocean City, NJ." Gifford was challenged by friends in the Ocean City Public Works Department to donate to a fund for an Upper Township family whose son has several life-altering medical conditions. He passed on the challenge to friends to help raise money for the families of Navy SEALS killed in service of their country.

See original Facebook post by Gifford:

Post by Ron Gifford.

From there, the "Cold Water Challenge" began to spread exponentially, with Gifford's handful of friends challenging a new handful of friends in a chain reaction that has doused a lot of people in cold water and raised a lot of money for charity. Gifford said Monday that he had no idea when he started it that the "Cold Water Challenge" would catch fire. But he knew of at least 60 people who had plunged, many marking their videos with the Facebook hashtag #SEALSColdWaterChallenge. "I guess I know a lot of competitive people," Gifford said of Ocean City's unwillingness to dodge the challenge.

To see a collection of videos, visit the SEALSColdWaterChallenge page on Facebook.
To make your $20 donation (or to pay your $100 ransom), visit Gifford's donation page (100 percent straight to to StandUp4SEALS).
Learn more about the StandUp4SEALS Beach Challenge scheduled for Saturday, May 24.

The ocean water temperature has been in the mid-50s for most of the week and temperatures in the sheltered lagoons in the 60s — not exactly polar but not particularly pleasant. The challenge is open to anybody who wants to take a cold splash and help out StandUp4SEALS. It's pretty simple: