WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: The Special Olympics’ 2025 Buffalo Polar Plunge registered an all-time best, raising more than $703,000 earlier this month to help a variety of Athletes with intellectual disabilities to participate and compete in a number of competitive sports. Included in that total was $21,500 raised by the Western New York Labor Movement as Labor Leaders and Union Members took the plunge into the frigid waters of Lake Erie to help raise dollars for a worthy cause.  (Photos Courtesy Of The Niagara-Orleans Central Labor Council & Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation President Denise Abbott)

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – A host of Western New York Labor Leaders and Union Members took the plunge earlier this month, making good on their pledge to wade into the frigid waters of Lake Erie in the Special Olympics’ 2025 Buffalo Polar Plunge, which raised a total of $21,500 to help area athletes with intellectual disabilities shine on and off the playing field.

For the past 18 years, thousands of brave plungers have taken the dip into Lake Erie to support the more than 45,000 Special Olympics New York Athletes from across the State of New York as every dollar raised directly supports year-round sports training and competition for Athletes with intellectual disabilities.

Over three days earlier this month, an array of local Unions, businesses and individuals – a total of 2,200, participated in four separate Polar Plunges at Woodlawn Beach State Park in nearby Blasdell that produced a record-breaking $703,232 to support Special Olympic Athletes.

“It ‘just goes to show you the power of Unions,’” Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation (WNYALF) President Denise Abbott (Pictured Below - In The Middle Between IBEW Local 2104's Trevor Ganshaw & UWGN Labor Liaison Beth Pyskaty), who made the plunge herself, told WNYLaborToday.com afterward. “It’s ‘hard to put into words.’ It’s ‘really unbelievable.’ ‘What impressed me is that people came out, even though this is not an easy thing to do.’ ‘They might hate me afterward (for encouraging Labor to participate in the event), but there was a lot of excitement and camaraderie - all for a good and worthwhile cause.’ There’s an ‘understanding (in the Labor Movement) that it is up to us to make the lives of those in our community easier.’”

A number of area Unions participated or supported the plunge into the 40-degree water (the air temperature at the time was about 19), among them the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), 1199 Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the United Auto Workers (UAW), the United Steelworkers (USW) and the Teamsters.

The Niagara-Orleans AFL-CIO Central Labor Council’s contingent of Council President Jim Briggs, USW Local 9434-01 President Jerry Chandler, IBEW Local 2104 Executive Boad Chairman Trevor Ganshaw (Pictured Below, In The Dark Shirt) and Niagara-Orleans Labor Council/United Way of Greater Niagara (UWGN) Labor Liaison Beth Pyskaty combined to raise nearly $5,000.

“I ‘thought my feet would fall off and it took a few days to get the feeling back in my feet, but it was worth it,’” Briggs (Pictured Below) - who raised just under $2,000 from those who sponsored him to take the plunge, tells WNYLaborToday.com. “Once I got there, I said to myself: ‘You’ve got to be kidding me, but I’m a commitment guy.’ I’m ‘really proud of Labor being a part of this.’ I was ‘really excited’ to do this event for Special Olympics, ‘which inspires us.’ ‘I’d rank this (fundraising effort) right at the top.’ ‘To be honest, I know Labor and we continue to do the right thing for our communities, especially in these tough times fighting against an administration in Washington.’ ‘But we are still showing up for our communities.’ ‘The truth is, we were involved with our passion and our hearts.’ We’re ‘here to help as much as we can.’”

Chandler, who raised just over 1,600 himself, told WNYLaborToday.com: “‘Everybody deserves a shot to play a sport and the greatest thing about this is we helped the Athletes get that chance.’ ‘I put my mind to it and I cannot express how much it meant.’”

Chandler not only waded into the water - he dove under it.

“It ‘was a plunge,’” he said. “I ‘was pumped up and I had told everyone I was doing this for a worthy cause.’ The water ‘was very, very old, but I would do it again.’ ‘It was a very worthy cause and I’m very proud of my Union Brothers and Sisters.’”

UAW Region 9 International Representative Jim Lakeman (Pictured Below With WNYALF President Abbott) raised the most donation of any individual Union Member with $3,000: “This (charitable) event ‘ranks right there at the top.’ I ‘did my research’ (into Special Olympics). It ‘wasn’t a huge push (to reach $3,000) because I had so many people behind me - the UAW, my family and friends, many who were there’ (to cheer him on).”

“When I was talking to some friends afterwards, my wife ‘told me my shorts were icing up,’” he chuckled.

Niagara-Orleans Labor Council/UWGN Labor Liaison Pyskaty (Pictured Below) added: “I was ‘confident’ Labor ‘would come through for such a terrific cause after we heard the stories from the Athletes themselves.’”

“There aren’t a lot of times I’d jump into Lake Erie at this time of the year, but this is one,” she added with a laugh.