By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Beach season is months away, but about 200 people threw caution — and clothing — to the wind Wednesday and started the new year by taking a plunge for a good cause at Compo Beach.

The hardy crowd that turned out for the New Year’s Day event, called “Freezin’ for a Reason Polar Bear Plunge,” raised money for Abilis, a Greenwich-based nonprofit that supports people with disabilities and their families around the region, according to Erica Klair, the agency’s marketing manager.

Abilis, among its programs, manages a town-owned house on Riverside Avenue in Westport as affordable housing for adults with special needs.

Donations for Abilis hadn’t been fully tabulated by the time the plunge ended, but more than  $30,000 had already been pledged, said Gena Mann, a member of the Abilis board of directors.

Many participants said they signed up to help the organization, while others thought dashing into the ice-cold water would be invigorating and beneficial for their health.

Once the event started, with people up and down the beach plunging into the water, it didn’t last long. Most dashed from the water almost as soon as they ran in. (See accompanying videos.)

Audrone Tarnok, with the Westport Volunteer Emergency Medical Service, said the water temperature appeared to be about 45 degrees. But she and fellow volunteer Jay Paretzky were not alerted to any medical emergencies during the event, they said. 

Tarnok, who came to Westport from Lithuania, said plunging into the frigid Baltic Sea is a widespread practice in her homeland.

Valerie Palascio and Bill Hassett previously never participated in a wintertime beach swim as they contemplated the icy water before their plunge. “We’re used to Cape Cod waters in August,” Palascio said, but they decided to join “because it’s for a very good cause.”

Mitch Mackai, asked after emerging from the water how it went, responded, “How was it? It was freezing — freezin’ for a reason.”

To make donations to Abilis, click here.

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.