Everyone loves the beach. What’s not to like? Sand, waves crashing, gulls flying overhead and the sounds that fill the air. Everyone loves the beach.
All that is true if you live in a warm locale, not so much the case if you live in New York City, in the dead of winter.
And yet, throngs of people, thousands of them, line the beach to dive in each New Year’s Day.
Among them a group of caring individuals looked out on that icy Atlantic and thought “We should jump in there to raise awareness for foster youth”.
And with that unorthodox line of thinking the You Gotta Believe Polar Plunge was born.
YGB is one of a few organizations in the United States and the only organization in New York City that limits its practice to finding permanent parents
and families for young adults, teens, and pre-teens in the foster care system. They work with youth aged 10 and up, but specialize in older teens (16
to 21) getting close to aging out of care. They also work with youth who come from “broken adoptions”, many LGBTQ youth, and teens with babies
who need a loving home to help break the cycle of being in foster care. YGB works with these youth to connect them to permanent parents before
they age out of the foster care system and run the extremely high risk of becoming homeless.
Founded in 1995 by Pat O’Brien alongside adoptive parents and former foster care youths, You Gotta Believe! The Older Child Adoption &
Permanency Movement, Inc. (YGB) was created to meet New York City’s need for an adoption agency dedicated to the oldest youth in the foster care
system.
Over the past 19 years, YGB has worked to place more than 450 youth with permanent parents and trained and prepared hundreds of parents to
make an unconditional, lifetime commitment to a teenager through moral and legal adoption.
YGB envisions a day when every child aging out of foster care is connected to an unconditionally committed, loving permanent family – when no child
is asked to face adulthood alone. The thought is that “it is never too late for family” and that the power of the unconditional commitment of a loving
family transforms young people’s prospects of living long, happy, healthy lives.
I’ve come to know the Founder, Pat O’Brien over the last few years. I’ve done Pat's radio show on WGBB, Long Island’s oldest radio station. I’ve
bumped into him at events in D.C.. He’s a genuine, passionate man. I’ve found that he is highly respected in the foster care world, often testifying
before Congress about the issues that face aging out foster youth.
The thing that may be less known about him is his sense of humor and penchant for having a good time. It’s because I know this side of Mr. O’Brien
that the idea of him running into the Atlantic Ocean to raise awareness for foster youth, all while wearing a penguin costume, made perfect sense to
me.
The morning of January 1st 2014, as the crews in Times Square continued the overnight confetti of the previous night’s events, a brave group of
advocates met on a street, fittingly called Mermaid Avenue. They changed from their civilian clothes into their penguin costume uniforms. After
gearing up and some nervous conversation, they made the short trek across the street to the sandy beach that is Coney Island. What lay ahead
were 31 degree morning frigid water temperature.
The happy go lucky group took to the water determined to stay in as long as possible. This was, after all, a well-publicized fundraiser for the group;
they’d already generated over 3,000 dollars via an internet fundraising page. There was no backing out!
The group managed three minutes in the icy Atlantic. One group member achieved a “zen-like' state and managed to stay in the water over 6
minutes,” according to new You Gotta Believe CEO Susan Grundberg.
Next year promises to be an even larger affair. The general public is urged to visit www.yougottabelieve.org to stay informed on next year's
event.
Will it change the way things are done in foster care because a group from New York City jumped into the freezing ocean? Maybe not but it sure gets
your attention. And isn’t it nice to know that there are people out there willing to jump in feet first to help kids in care?
Owner/Editor - Chris Chmielewski