No, you are welcome to show up without having pre-registered. When you arrive, our volunteers will ask for your name and contact information.

However, we try to encourage people to pre-register as it prevents long lines from forming at the registration table, makes it easier on our volunteers, and helps us get a better idea of the expected crowd size so we are prepared with enough food, drink, and merchandise.

No, but we want to support the families we sponsor as much as we can, so we hope you will donate if you're able. If you donate $20 or more, you will receive a Penguin Plunge t-shirt that you can show off to your friends and family! You can pay in advance through our online donation page or pay day-of with cash, check, or venmo. 

We also have sweatshirts, winter hats, and tote bags you can take home upon further donation. In addition, there is always a wide selection of food and drink available for a suggested donation and we usually hold a 50/50 raffle. (For these, we take donations in-person the day of the event - only the t-shirts can be reserved online).

Not at all. Most attendees opt to cheer on the plungers from dry land. If you like, you can purchase one of our "proxy penguins," a penguin rubber duck that our professional divers will take into the water with them when it's time to plunge. You can even write your name or a personalized message on it and take it home with you.

Safety is our number one priority. We always have paramedics and police officers on scene, and there are divers from the fire department in the water with the plungers. When plungers exit the water, they proceed to the nearby warming tent where they can dry off and change in a heated environment.

Note that we enter the water from the beach - we don't jump or dive in. You only need to go as far in as you're comfortable with - it's your own personal challenge! 

The water is usually about 40 degrees Fahrenheit at this time of year, but it varies.

For those plunging: Most people wear bathing suits, but some wear costumes or even a wet suit. Whatever you are comfortable in works for us. However, we do strongly recommend that you wear beach shoes or sandals, as both the beach and river bottom are rocky and we don't people to injure themselves.

For those not plunging: Just wear whatever clothes will make you comfortable and keep you warm!

Yes!  We have a warming tent for the Penguins to change out of their wet clothes.  Most, if not all, come prepared to plunge, keeping their plunging gear under their warm clothing until it is time to go in. 

Pro tip - bring a towel to dry off!

There will be no parking in Memorial Park as we need the space for the Plunge itself.  However, there is usually abundant street parking, and there are several municipal parking lots right near the park. Parking is free in Nyack on Sundays, so you don't have to worry about paying. If you have trouble finding parking, there will be volunteers at the entrance to Memorial Park who can direct you.

No, we want to celebrate the families we're plunging for first! We start the program at 12:00 (snow or shine) and take the plunge around 1:30.  In the interim there is live entertainment for all ages. Shortly before the plunge, we bring the families on stage and introduce them to the penguins.

Donating online is the fastest, easiest way to support our cause. We use Network For Good to process payments and help us keep track of our fundraising. To make a donation, go to Penguin Plunge's homepage on Network for Good by clicking here, and then clicking the "Donate" button. Or, donate to a team by scrolling down and finding their fundraising page (more on teams below).

If you prefer to donate via check, you can find our mailing address here. Make all checks payable to "Penguin Plunge Inc."

We also take cash, check, and venmo donations at our many community fundraising events. 

Yes! Donations to the Penguin Plunge are all tax-deductible. When you donate online through our Network for Good page, you will automatically receive an email confirmation that meets IRS requirements for use as a receipt. If you hand us a check or cash, you can request a receipt from us.

No. All donations go to a single pool that we split evenly among the families.

We understand that members of the local town or neighborhood where a sponsored family resides may feel extra motivation to raise money just for that family. We love that passion and fully support it! But we politely request that any fundraisers where the proceeds go toward a single family, rather than the Penguin Plunge organization, be held outside of the main Penguin Plunge fundraising season (which typically runs from September through May) so as not to take away from the other families we sponsor.

We partner with Network for Good to process donations and streamline our online fundraising efforts. A key feature of Network for Good is the ability for anybody - an individual, a group of people, or an organization - to take the reins and create their own personal page to ask for donations to the Penguin Plunge. This is a helpful tool for connecting with friends, family, customers, or followers. On your fundraising page you can share your personal story and explain why you're passionate about raising money for our cause (or perhaps your more mischievous friends would simply pay good money to see you jump into a freezing river). Set a monetary goal you'd like to reach and share the link far and wide. Donations made to the Penguin Plunge through your fundraising page will be recorded in a ledger so you can keep track of how much money you've brought in.

Colloquially we often refer to these fundraising pages as "teams," as most are usually set up by a group of like-minded individuals with something in common, but often they are set up by just one person. There are many reasons people create fundraising pages. Perhaps you run a local business and want to demonstrate your community spirit to customers and employees alike. Perhaps you'd like to honor someone you know who lost their battle against childhood illness by helping others. Perhaps you are part of a heated rivalry against another high school, sports team, or Greek organization and want to put that competitive energy to good use by seeing who can raise the most. Either way, personal fundraising pages are a great way to show your commitment to charity and, most importantly, raise more money for sick children. 

If you'd like to create a new team, navigate to our Donate page, scroll to "Team Fundraising," and click the button "Create a Team or Personal Fundraising Page." You can find a list of existing teams and links to their pages by navigating to the Penguin Plunge's homepage on Network For Good and scrolling down.

Yes, loads of them! We fundraise nearly all year-round. Some of our most popular events include Comedy Night, Pocketbook Bingo, and Celebrity Bartending. And we're always looking for new exciting ways to get the community involved. To learn more, visit our Upcoming Events page.

Yes, we are always excited to welcome more volunteers! Whether you want to donate a few hours of your time at a specific fundraiser or become a full-fledged member of our committee, we would love to have your support. Every bit of help makes a big difference in achieving our mission. Send us an email with your name and how you'd like to get involved at help@penguinplungeny.com.

We usually hold a small private ceremony in June where we give the families their checks (and jumbo cardboard checks to match!). If you'd like to see photos of the big moment, sign up for our mailing list or check our social media pages.

It's terrible that there is no shortage of sick children in our world. Because we rely heavily on community involvement to accomplish our fundraising goals, we stick to helping those that are local - namely in Rockland County, NY or Bergen County, NJ (sometimes Westchester County, NY as well). If you know a family with a critically ill child living in one of these counties, we may be able to help. We encourage you to send them the link to our website and let them decide if the Penguin Plunge is right for them first. When we sponsor a child, we share their picture and personal story and ask that the families participate in spreading the word about our movement. It requires a sacrifice of privacy that some families may not be comfortable with.

If you or someone you know is ready to ask for our help, please reach out to us.

We do our most active searching for new children to help during the summer, followed by a formal announcement typically in September. We always select at least 2 children, but in recent years have sometimes been able to accommodate up to 4.