A group of hearty souls gathered at Forest Park Beach in Lake Forest Saturday morning to plunge into the freezing waters of Lake Michigan for a cause.
The Lake Forest/Lake Bluff Polar Plunge – Hearts for Honduras are raising funds for a second trip to the Agalta Valley of Honduras to volunteer in schools and communities to help families there secure clean drinking water.
This local Lake Forest/Lake Bluff chapter of the Atlanta-based humanitarian organization, HAVE – Honduras Agalta Valley Education (2006) havefoundation.org, was formed in 2024 and is now planning for its second volunteer service trip to Honduras for March 1 – 8, which will include volunteers from Lake Bluff and Lake Forest families along with other national participants.
HAVE board member and Lake Forest resident, Kate Rother took part in last year’s trip to Honduras and is a founding member of the Lake Forest/Lake Bluff chapter of HAVE.
“It’s a constant struggle to find safe drinking water in the rural communities of the Agalta Valley, Honduras, which often leads to bouts of diarrhea and parasitic infections, particularly among children, affecting their health and school attendance,” Rother said.
“Supplying water filters to these families has become an indispensable part of securing daily wellness,” Rother added.
According to Rother, last year, a group of moms and their sons from Lake Forest and Lake Bluff made the trip to Honduras.
In just one week, our group alongside community partners, painted an elementary school, mixed cement for outhouses and wells in villages, and assembled and delivered water filters to homes.
Community partners included HOI, Uzima, and MAP International.
“This was an extremely moving experience for all of us, and last year we did not have enough filters to supply every home, and even for those that received one, the filters will not last forever, so there is a need to keep them coming,” Rother said.
According to the HAVE Foundation website, each year, a diverse and growing group of individuals travel to the impoverished Agalta Valley in east-central Honduras to partner with the local people to improve life in the region through education, better health care, and commerce. Hailing from every corner of the United States, the team comprises people of all ages from a variety of professions.
Rother says it is rewarding for family members to volunteer together, to learn about how other families live, and about a new culture.
“This is an opportunity for all ages to gain a new perspective, to see the impact of their work firsthand, to get their hands dirty, and to collaborate with the people they are helping,” Rother said.
Tom Donovan of Lake Forest took the plunge on Saturday with family.
“My wife and son traveled to Honduras in 2024 and returned with an appreciation for families that live on very little, and the impact that their work for the HAVE Foundation can make,” Donovan said.
Joy McGreevy of Lake Forest participated in the Polar Plunge and said she felt very nervous about doing it.
“It’s a matter of disengaging completely from your ego — I can’t think about myself at all when I go into the water, my friends and I try to just focus completely on the present moment,” McGreevy said.
Rother says that the United States is blessed to have abundant clean, safe water. In Honduras, it is difficult to find a clean water source.
“Clean water has provided a profound impact in these communities, with our efforts, we can make a difference,” Rother said.
Gina Grillo is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
