75-year-old Tri-Cities woman wanted to jump in the Columbia River for her birthday. Here’s why
There are plenty of things that Mary E. Allison can’t do after she broke her hip in 2018.
“I can’t ride my motorcycle. I can’t water ski. I can’t climb trees. I can’t hopscotch. I can’t jump rope. I can’t ride my bicycle,” said the 75-year-old Finley woman. “But I can jump in the river for a good cause.”
Allison wanted to celebrate her 75th birthday by jumping into the Columbia River on Saturday as part of the Tri-Cities Polar Plunge.
Hundreds were at Richland’s Columbia Point Marina Park for the annual fundraiser for the Special Olympics of Washington. It’s been a banner year for the event, which raised $120,000 in pledges by Saturday afternoon.
That shatters the event’s already ambitious $80,000 goal, and nearly doubles what the event brought in last year. The funds stay local and help athletes with travel costs, uniforms and equipment so they can compete.
People can continue to contribute through February.
Allison has been busy doing her part to collect donations. She started on New Year’s Eve as she was leaving a movie theater. An older couple insisted on walking her to her car.
“I got to talking to them, and I told them, ‘I’m going to do the Polar Plunge.’ They were just amazed, and so they gave me my first $20,” she said.
She kept going. She talked to stores where she shops, and received donations. And on Thursday and Friday she walking up and down Finley Road to ask her neighbors.
To mark her 75th birthday, she made copies of a picture from her 2018 Special Olympics jump into the river. Then she mailed 40 fliers to family and friends across the country, asking for contributions.
She showed the Herald a white 8-by-11-inch envelope with Polar Plunge written across it.
“I don’t know how much money is in here. I just keep chucking it in there,” she said. “I solicit everywhere I can. ... My goal is $500.”
Her personal reason
Allison was motivated to take the plunge for the first time in 2014 in memory of her granddaughter, who died at age 3. The girl suffered from spinal muscular atrophy that results in worsening muscle weakness.
When Allison heard about the plunge, she thought it was something she could do to remember her granddaughter and support others with special needs.
“The first time I did it, I was scared because it was 28 degrees and there was ice on the ground,” she said. “I was scared that I was going to have a heart attack, but after that I’ve never been scared. I thought, ‘Well if I do have a heart attack, what a way to go.’”
This would be the fifth time she jumped and it’s always well-coordinated with firefighters and police on hand to help and coffee, cookies, cocoa and chowder available after the jumpers get out of the chilly water. Saturday’s water temperature was near 41 by midday.
Each year she wears a flannel nightgown, a snood and carries a 20-pound metal pitchfork to the event.
She hopes others will see that its safe to join in for a good cause. While her children and friends think she is crazy to jump into the river in winter, she thinks it’s important to have something she has a passion for.
“We all need something that is important to us,” she said. “I don’t care if it is rescuing dogs or if it’s the cancer fund or St. Jude’s or whatever. So mine is special needs because of her (my granddaughter.) So I work really hard to try to raise what I can and raise awareness for special needs and for the Special Olympics.”
Allison has no plans to stop anytime soon, at least not while she is able to make it to the river.
“I’m going to try and do this as long as I’m physically and mentally able,” she said. “If I get that I can’t walk the gangplank, then they can just roll me in and roll me back out.”
This story was originally published January 25, 2020 at 12:47 PM.