Finding Our Voices fundraiser brings out yellow-wearing cold water dippers from Mount Desert to York
Cold water dipping groups gathered at frozen ponds and chilly beaches from Brooklin to York to support Maine domestic abuse victims on Feb. 9.
The Statewide “Love Ourselves” dipping event is a fundraiser for Finding Our Voices, the statewide grassroots nonprofit breaking the silence of domestic abuse and providing resources to its sister survivors. The group’s color is yellow for the light it brings to Maine women victims/survivors and Sunday’s dippers carried out the theme with yellow flower hats, feather boas, bathing suits and caps, and sunglasses.
Patrisha McLean, CEO and founder of Finding Our Voices, said the date of the second annual event is set on the Sunday before Valentine’s Day, but for another reason as well. “It is Super Bowl Sunday, when violence to women in the home traditionally spikes.”
Participating groups choose their own time of the day for their dip, and also their own way to raise money for Finding Our Voices.
Hundreds of women (plus some children, and male supporters) braved Sunday’s snowstorm to raise money for critical items empowering Maine women to get out and stay out of dangerous intimate partner situations. These include emergency short-term shelter, car repairs, legal help, home security systems, and payment of overdue utility and storage unit bills.
At Long Pond on Mount Desert, Cold Tits Warm Hearts dipped in a huge heart painstakingly dug out of foot-thick ice. At Crawford Lake in Union, Erja Lipponen’s Wander Women partook of a sauna before dipping in the hole they carved with ice chisels, axes, and saws.
In Brooklin the winds were whipping at the 9 a.m. time set by Cold Moon Selkies, but hot chocolate was on hand for those who managed to access Naskeag Point through the piles of snow. The dippers with Saltwater Mountain Company in York wore yellow flower hats with their dry robes and gloves, and warmed up with a fire on the beach.
Other participating dipping groups included Wicked Nippy Dippahs and Flock of Seagals at Rockport Harbor, Maine Sea Sisters at Lincolnville Beach, Blue Loons in Blue Hill, and Stone Cold Dippers in Stonington.
On Monday, donations were still coming in, with $1,600 raised from the Brooklin Dip alone through Sarah Havener’s GoFundMe page.
Finding Our Voices is the grassroots non-profit connecting Maine women survivors of domestic abuse and providing resources including an online support group, financial assistance and access to free dental care. The group will be in downtown Lewiston on Valentine’s Day for a survivor-powered march educating the public on what love is and what love is not. For more information visit https://findingourvoices.net/.
