Kingston grandma braves polar plunge to raise money for African charities – Kingston

Kingston’s grandmother, Gail McTague, is starting 2023 with a splash. The 78-year-old grandmother of four plunged into the frigid waters of Lake Ontario off Portsmouth’s Olympic Harbor on Monday to raise money for grandmothers in Africa.

“It’s horrible to go in, I have to admit,” he said. “The first two minutes are quite hard, but after that, it’s comfortable. When you’re done, you’re just enlightened.”

As a member of the local charity, the Kingston Grandmother Connection, this is the second year in a row that McTague has organized a solo polar plunge, challenging herself to stay in the water for five minutes.

However, McTague is not afraid of the cold. He is also part of a group of Kingstonians who regularly swim in the lake and practice the popular “Wim Hof” breathing technique. McTague says that he takes cold baths twice a week.

“I decided to do a cold water swim of my own and thought, well, if I can use it to raise some money for the grandmas, why not?”

“It is a very fun event. Mainly we just want to be very supportive of Gail, she’s very brave,” added Jean Hodgson, another member of the Kingston Grandma Connection.

Kingston Grandmother Connection provides funding to NGOs in several sub-Saharan African countries, where HIV and AIDS have left many children orphaned and cared for primarily by their grandmothers.

Last year, McTague was able to raise over $4,000 for the organization. This year, he says he doesn’t have a goal in mind, but everything helps.

A huge crowd turned out to support McTague and his polar plunge. Although it was hot for a January day (3 degree Celsius water), it didn’t make the plunge any less challenging.

McTague added: “My knees aren’t even blue today. They were the other day.

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