KCU staff takes part in Joplin Polar Plunge event

Kansas City University (KCU) staff braved the chilly water of Shoal Creek in Joplin, Missouri, for a good cause. KCU Safety and Emergency Management team members participated in the Joplin Polar Plunge in an effort to raise funds for the athletes of Special Olympics Missouri. Bill Barksdale, KCU patrol agent on the Joplin campus, heads the group -- encouraging the team to take the cold dive every year. “We have taken part in Polar Plunge for a number of years. We have raised over $7,300 for the Special Olympics since 2021,” Barksdale explained.

Barksdale has been taking the plunge himself for 15 years and has raised over $20,000 for the charity. “I am so blessed and humbled by the fact that people are willing to donate. The KCU team actually plunged twice this year, once in Springfield (Missouri) and again in Joplin. So, when I asked a second time, I didn’t know what to expect, but many people made donations twice this year,” he explained.

He says supporting the Special Olympics was a memorable part of his 35 year-long law enforcement career in Carthage, Missouri, before coming to KCU. “A lot of law enforcement choose to take part in the Plunge. The Joplin and Carthage police departments hosted this year’s event,” Barksdale remarked. “We all get very competitive on who can raise the most each year.”

All the proceeds raised benefit year-round sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities or injuries. Thousands of athletes participate in sixteen Olympic-type sports throughout Missouri. “The money will go to athletes of all ages in southwest Missouri. Sometimes we tend to just think of kids, but people compete up in their sixties and seventies. Once you are a Special Olympic athlete, you are a Special Olympic athlete forever.”

The fundraiser encourages participants to dress in costume, with a golden plunger awarded to the team with the most creative costumes. “One year I dressed like a bumble bee with the letter ‘A’ and a fan attached. It was meant to mean ‘Be a fan for Special Olympics.’ I had to explain it to the folks from Special Olympics. They didn’t get it,” Barksdale said with a laugh.

Barksdale says the team is already on the books to participate in the 2024 Polar Plunge.

KCU is proud of our Safety and Emergency Management team for living the University’s mission of improving the well-being of the communities we serve. Well done!