The Special Olympics Club is “freezin’ for a reason” this weekend.

For the sixth consecutive year, the club will head downtown to participate in the annual Polar Plunge. The event will take place at Heinz Field this year.

“We usually arrive at around 9 a.m. and the events start at around 11,”  club co-sponsor Timothy Laughlin said.

The Polar Plunge is a fundraiser for the Special Olympics.

“The money goes toward a great cause,” senior Claire Plunkett, a club executive board member, said. The donations support the Special Olympics in Allegheny County and at the state level.

Plunkett is the student leader of the plunge event and is excited to be coordinating it.

“We were able to choose an event that we were most passionate about, and of course I chose the Polar Plunge,” Plunkett said.

There will be one change this year: All of the recent rain has raised the rivers to an unsafe level for plunging, so participants will make their plunge into pools.

“Some people are disappointed that the event will not be in the rivers since that is the classic, but I am just thrilled we have found a way for them to be safe,” Plunkett said.  

This will be the largest number of people to ever take part in this event here in Pittsburgh, with more than 1,000 people participating, Laughlin said.