Kim Magee’s fundraising swim of Little Otter Lake over the weekend was splashing success.
The Parry Sound local had set out to swim the 4.6 kilometres across the lake to raise money for a pool in the community.
Magee says the event was incredible, adding she ended up finishing sooner than expected.
“I dove in at 8:15, and I got out at about 11:10, which was surprising because I train in the bay and it takes me about an hour per kilometer. So I guess in the lake it’s a little easier. I go a little faster. I’m not crashing into waves and they’re not crashing into me,” she says.
The Pool Committee had set a fundraising goal of $5,000 with the total sitting at over $8,300 as of Wednesday (Aug 30).
“Well, hopefully we got the word out there. A little more interest from the general public would be great. We need to push this and make sure that it happens. We all need this so badly,” she says.
Magee says for her part, she plans on doing the swim every year until the pool is built. And once it’s built, she’s hoping to continue doing it and raise some money for low-income families to be able to get memberships.
Looking back at the swim, Magee says the biggest hurdle was just the training and getting herself to the gate.
“I mean, I’ve never set a goal like this for myself before. The fear of failure and all. Just getting myself prepared and convincing myself that I could do this was the hardest thing. Once I jumped in the water, all I had to do was swim, and that’s something that I enjoy. It’s my favorite thing in the world,” she says.
Magee says another committee member, Charlene, ended up swimming the whole way with her. She says her main goal is for the community to keep the pool project in their minds.
“I can’t stress enough how important it is to have healthy physical activity that’s both socially and emotionally healing. We have long winters here. Children love going outside and playing in the snow, but we have people with limited movements and elders that really rely on the ability to go and do something like this during the week to keep their spirits up, to keep their physical bodies active,” she says.
According to Magee, the fundraiser will remain open for donation until Sunday September 3.
“I hope that the general public really keeps this in mind, keeps donating and keeps talking about it so that we don’t forget that we need this,” she says.