{"id":7444,"date":"2025-03-25T11:26:07","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T11:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7444"},"modified":"2025-03-25T11:26:07","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T11:26:07","slug":"penguin-plunge-raises-106000-for-make-a-wish-foundation-shaw-local-news-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7444","title":{"rendered":"Penguin Plunge raises $106,000 for Make-A-Wish Foundation – Shaw Local News Network"},"content":{"rendered":"


Ellen Nabeti (center) and team Simon\u2019s Squad members leap into freezing waters at the 2025 Penguin Plunge Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa. <\/span>(Ryan Grieves, Ryan Grieves, Ryan Grieves, Ryan Grieves, Ryan Grieves, Ryan Grieves, Ryan Grieves)
The words \u201cshocking,\u201d \u201camazing\u201d and \u201cincredible\u201d were heard often at the 15th annual Penguin Plunge Saturday afternoon in Ottawa<\/a>.
And while they could have been used interchangeably, the adjectives most often referred to specific aspects of the 15th annual fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Three more members of the Simon’s Squad jump into frigid waters at the Penguin Plunge Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa. Simon’s Squad raised $35,000 of the $106,000 raised by the event. <\/span>
Shocking was the word of choice by those braving the 42 degree temperatures and 15 mph winds before and after jumping in to the frigid pond at Skydive Chicago.
Amazing came to mind when considering that 191 benevolent people and 14 complete teams sacrificed their comfort to raise money for such a worthy cause.
Incredible best described the effort that on the day raised more than $106,000 to help make the wishes of children in health distress come true.
Those funds should make 2025 an even better year than last when Make-A-Wish Illinois granted 12 wishes to children just in La Salle County<\/a> alone, bringing the local effort\u2019s total to 38 since Linda Johnson first initiated the local event 15 years ago.
Bringing in a good chunk of that money was Simon\u2019s Squad, named for Glen Ellyn\u2019s Simon Nabeti who got to experience his wish of going to the Super Bowl before he died this last October.
Only 12 days ago, Ellen Nabeti, Simon\u2019s mother and captain of Simon\u2019s Squad, said her team was sitting at about $14,000, but wanted to get to $20,000 so that MAW would be able to fund two wishes instead of one.
However, his family and friends really came through even better than that, raising and donating the largest sum of any team, $35,000.
\u201cThe team really took off at the end,\u201d Nabeti said. \u201cWe got a whole bunch of good buddies went to work and we exceeded what we\u2019d hoped, and we\u2019re happy to do it. Simon would have loved this, to see all these people here doing this. These people are amazing.\u201d
Simon would have enjoyed watching his friend, Niko Vardalos, and his sister, Sophia, jump off the dock into the icy waters.
\u201cIt was just \u2026 shocking. I\u2019ve never been so cold,\u201d Sophia said with a still-shivering chuckle, \u201cbut we\u2019re happy to do this, for Simon.\u201d
The timing of the Plunge was perfect timing for the family of Lucas, a 4-year-old boy from Oglesby<\/a> who has been suffering from cystic fibrosis. Though his wish was originally slated for October but was postponed because of a hurricane, they will ignore the recent snow that\u2019s fallen on Florida and will be leaving on Monday for Disney World in Orlando, where he hopes to see his favorite character, Mickey Mouse.
\u201cThis is incredible,\u201d Lucas\u2019 mother, Haley King, said of the event as a whole. \u201cSeeing things like this, it gives you hope, to think that so many people come out and support this.
\u201cWe\u2019re just so thankful that this whole thing is happening. I thought it would be we\u2019d tell them what we wanted to do and it would happen, but it\u2019s so much more than that. There\u2019s definitely a lot more involved with this than I realized \u2026 It\u2019s been absolutely amazing.\u201d
So overwhelming was the response to the drive that organizers actually ran out of Make-A-Wish participant T-shirts and had to promise to mail them out once more were obtained.
\u201cThat\u2019s just a great problem to have,\u201d MAW Gift Officer\/Community Programs leader Ashley White said. \u201cWe are so honored that everyone could be here today to do something so extreme and brave, to support our brave Wish kids like they do every day in fighting critical illness.
\u201cI wish truly changes a child\u2019s life and your bravery today will make so many wishes come true. Our children need heroes like you. We are so happy we could help make this happen.\u201d
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network<\/p>\n

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Ellen Nabeti (center) and team Simon\u2019s Squad members leap into freezing waters at the 2025 Penguin Plunge Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa. (Ryan Grieves, Ryan Grieves, Ryan Grieves, Ryan Grieves, Ryan Grieves, Ryan Grieves, Ryan Grieves)The words \u201cshocking,\u201d \u201camazing\u201d and \u201cincredible\u201d were heard often at the 15th annual Penguin Plunge Saturday afternoon in Ottawa.And while they<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t