Wow – We met the goal last night, and then kicked it’s @$$!

I started #PlungeBeard with a couple things in mind – To raise as much money for a cause that was important to me and to have an excuse to grow my first beard while doing it. The first part is all about you and the second is all about me.

Together, look what we did for the Special Olympics and kids across the country, one of whom may very well be my very enigmatic 3-year-old, Rawley.

Last night thanks to Dustin Behr, we met that goal. Dustin made an incredibly generous pledge and rocketed me past that magic mark of $2,250 equalling 45 Beardsly, which means I get to jump in Lake Riley with official PlungeBeard hair on my face. Dustin that means the world to me, and I want you to know how cool I think it is that you did what you did last night. My gratitude is yours.

So something I hadn’t quite unleashed yet was the fact that I was going to offer my face as a billboard for whomever got me over that hump. Of course Dustin smoked that ace with his donation, but I figure he should get to decide anyways. So I made him that offer and he gave me one of two options:

Of course, facial hair like that is so fine, it’s like someone shaved a cat and glued it on these models’ chiseled features, whereas mine will probably end up looking like blackish splatter paint shot haphazardly against the front of a remote control Goodyear blimp… but dang it, we are going to do our best.

I’m thinking Batman, Dustin – Maybe it’ll turn out!

Of course what I hadn’t planned on was the outpouring of generosity that followed. In addition to Dustin, wonderful people like Julie Roden, Jay, Bob & Terry Edam & Anonymous added to the pot. Then I check today after work and who else had donated, but the Zinter Family, Big Jack Parker and Bama & Papa B!

I could thank you all a million times, but it couldn’t display the warmth in my heart for what you and all the other pledgers have done. I see you support my goal, which ultimately is to support Rawley and his peers, and it is beautiful. But nothing captures it nearly as well as the video we took last night. So to you who pledged, this IS for you.

So what am I to do with 5 extra beardsly?

Well, after shaving a bat into my bristle brush, there really won’t be much left worth considering a beard. So instead, I’m going to donate $10 for every Beardsly above 45 that I get to my fellow Wolf Pack teammates.

The Polar Plunge stipulates that you need a minimum of $75 to jump, and there are a few folks on the team that haven’t yet reached that goal. So we have a great start with an extra $50 going to Special Olympics.

And of course… if you haven’t yet…

PLEDGE (to my fellow wolves!)